Top 10+ Things You're Forbidden to Flush (Yet Many Flush Them Anyway)

Those "Flushable" Wipes Are Actually Your Worst Enemy

Picture this: You're standing in your beautifully renovated bathroom, holding a "flushable" wipe that promises convenience and cleanliness. Here's the shocking truth — flushable wipes are allowed to be called flushable because there is no legally binding definition of what's considered flushable.

Hence, even wipes that don't disintegrate well enough that they won't cause problems are designated "flushable" for marketing purposes. Items such as wipes, even those labeled "flushable," do not break down easily and can accumulate in pipes, leading to blockages.

Yet they account for 43 percent of what Americans flush down the toilet that they shouldn't. Many brands label their wipes as 'flushable', but this can be misleading.

Unlike toilet paper, baby wipes don't break down easily in water. The cost of this convenience?

Repairing a toilet clog costs $85–$600.

Feminine Hygiene Products Spell Disaster

Tempting as it is to flush feminine hygiene products down the toilet, it's never advisable, yet they make up 16 percent of the most commonly flushed items. Tampons and pads are specifically designed to absorb liquid and when they do, they swell.

Obviously, this can cause big problems in pipes and lead to backups. Think of it like a sponge in your pipes — except this sponge was designed to expand and stay that way.

Tampons, sanitary pads, and other period products are designed to absorb liquid and, in some cases, expand to several times larger than their original size. These fibrous products can swell up with water when flushed and stick to the sewer line causing toilet water to back up and overflow.

Nearly half of all women say they flush tampons down the toilet but as they're not biodegradable, you really shouldn't. The result?

Expensive plumbing emergencies that could've been avoided with a simple trash can.

Cotton Balls and Swabs Create Pipe Nightmares

Although cotton balls, rounds, and swabs might seem small enough to flush, they can cause big problems inside your pipes. When flushed, these cotton products do not break down in the water; instead, they tend to build up inside pipelines.

Cotton balls are highly absorbent and can snag on materials in pipes, leading to clogs. These seemingly innocent bathroom staples act like tiny nets, catching other debris as they travel through your pipes.

Cotton balls/swabs: These items are not going to dissolve in water. Instead, they'll clog your toilet, especially swabs, which can easily lodge in pipes and create a logjam.

It's like building a dam one cotton ball at a time — until your bathroom becomes a disaster zone.

Hair Becomes a Pipe Strangling Monster

So, can hair clog a toilet? Yes, it can.

Don't flush large clumps of hair down the toilet. When you collect hair from your brush and casually drop it in the toilet, you're essentially creating a net that catches everything else flowing through your pipes.

Large amounts of hair bind together with soap scum and other debris, forming what plumbers call "hair snakes" — thick, nasty clogs that require professional intervention. Use drain covers or strainers made of stainless steel or silicone to avoid clogging your drains and pipes.

Your future self (and your wallet) will thank you for this simple prevention step.

Medications Turn Your Toilet into a Chemical Dump

Medications and pharmaceuticals should never be flushed. Doing so can not only contaminate water supplies, but also cause harm to local wildlife.

Instead, expired medications (or medications that are simply no longer required) should be returned to your local pharmacy for safe disposal at no cost to you. Flushing medicine might seem like a safe way to dispose of it, but it can be very harmful.

Medicines contain chemicals that can pollute water supplies and harm wildlife. Many sewage treatment plants can't remove these chemicals from the water.

Over time, this pollution can build up and damage ecosystems. Every pill you flush joins a chemical cocktail that treatment plants weren't designed to handle.

To help prevent water pollution, never flush medications or potentially hazardous household materials (such as paint and some cleaning products, including cleaners for ovens, windows, and tile) down the toilet.

Cigarette Butts Poison Your Plumbing System

You should never flush cigarette butts down the toilet. While it may seem like a convenient way to dispose of them, flushing cigarette butts can lead to serious environmental and plumbing problems.

Each cigarette filter is made of plastic-based fibers, mainly cellulose acetate, which does not break down easily in water. Unlike biodegradable materials, cigarette butts can take years or even decades to decompose.

When flushed, cigarette butts travel through sewer systems and may eventually end up in lakes, rivers, or oceans. There, they release toxins such as nicotine, arsenic, and heavy metals, which can poison aquatic life.

Cigarette butts belong in the trash, not the toilet. They can clog the toilet and wreak havoc with a septic tank — especially filtered or plastic-tipped smokes.

Cigarette butts are the topmost toxic plastic polluters. (Close to 4.5 billion cigarette butts are discarded each year, worldwide.) They are harmful, as they can introduce potentially hazardous chemicals into the water system.

Cat Litter Creates Concrete-Like Disasters

Some manufacturers say their kitty litter is flushable, but the Township does not recommend flushing it down the toilet. "Today's water-saving toilets use only 1.6 gallons of water per flush.

That's not enough water to keep the kitty litter moving," he explains. Cat litter is highly absorbent and therefore especially bad.

Its high clay content can form a cement-like compound in water to clog pipes and damage septic systems. Imagine pouring wet concrete into your pipes — that's essentially what happens when clay-based litter meets water.

There are some cat litter products being marketed as flushable as well but, much like the wet wipes or even more so, it can do substantial damage to the plumbing in a home. Clay and sand, which most litter is made up of, can cause damage to the pipes and the granules, like the feminine products and diapers, are designed to absorb moisture and can expand in water up to fifteen times their original size.

Dental Floss Turns Into a Sewer Net

Dental floss: Waxed or unwaxed, dental floss becomes a veritable seine net catching all sorts of debris, clogging toilets and sewer pipes. When septic systems are involved, dental floss winds around moving parts and burns out motors.

Dental floss isn't biodegradable. It can turn into a net and wrap itself around other objects in your drain, forming one giant drain-blocking monster!

This tiny thread might seem harmless, but it's actually one of the most destructive items you can flush. You might be wondering, "Dental floss?

It's so small. There's no way it can do much damage." Unfortunately, it can.

Dental floss, while small, can cause big problems in your septic system. Picture a spider web made of non-biodegradable string, collecting every piece of debris that passes through your pipes.

Cooking Grease Solidifies Into Pipe Killers

Grease: It might be liquid when it enters the pipes, but as soon as grease cools it solidifies and creates one powerful clog. It takes a professional to remove this kind of blockage.

Just like you shouldn't put cooking grease down the drain, you should never flush grease. When grease cools, it congeals which makes it thicker and leads to risk in clogging your pipes.

Fat, oil and grease. Around £15 million is spent every year clearing blockages caused by these products which is why it's now in fact illegal to flush them down the toilet.

What starts as liquid becomes a sticky, solidified mess that attracts other debris like a magnet. The result?

If they manage to make it past the plumbing in the home, they can build up in the sewer systems causing "fatbergs". Wet wipes are one of the biggest contributors to these build-ups, which have been found as large as ten tons.

Food Scraps Turn Your Toilet Into a Garbage Disposal

Food: Some may argue that food is biodegradable, and it is. But it can lodge in plumbing and create a stubborn clog while it's decomposing.

Never flush it down the toilet. This might surprise you because human waste is basically just broken-down food anyway, but flushing food that hasn't been digested can cause problems for your plumbing, too.

Your toilet wasn't designed to handle solid food particles, no matter how small they seem. That includes whole meals kids have dumped off their plates and flushed down the toilet.

Cat litter is highly absorbent and therefore especially bad. Food scraps don't break down fast enough in your pipes, creating perfect conditions for bacteria growth and attracting pests.

Your pipes are only four inches in diameter at their widest, which means even small, seemingly harmless items can cause major plumbing problems. Hiring a professional to snake your clogged drain can cost hundreds of dollars, not to mention the expense of repairing water damage caused by an overflowing toilet.

The real shocker here? A Guardian Service survey updated in 2025 reports that "clogged toilets" is the most common plumbing issue searched over the last two years.

The average cost to repair a toilet is $271, with most homeowners spending between $150 and $391 for professional services. Your home's plumbing system wasn't designed to be a universal disposal unit — it's a sophisticated network that demands respect.

Experts emphasize that only the three Ps should be flushed down toilets: pee, poop, and (toilet) paper. Because the sewer services are a publicly operated service, the cost to maintain that infrastructure is collected from sewer charges, and more blockages mean a more expensive public bill.

It costs the City about $100,000 a year just to remove items like these from the screens at the wastewater treatment plant. So next time you're tempted to flush something "just this once," remember that small convenience could cost you hundreds in repairs and contribute to millions in municipal cleanup costs.

Your wallet, your home, and your community's water system will thank you for making the right choice.