What should be flushed?

• Just toilet paper and human waste.

Anything else is bad news for our pipes and pumps that carry wastewater from your home to the Sunrise treatment plants, where City staff work 24/7 to clean your used water in an efficient, effective, environmentally-sound disposal of wastewater.

What Not to Flush

Toilets are not trash cans. Some of the below list might seem harmless but when flushed can easily become a clog,  damage treatment facilities, necessitate expensive cleanups or repairs, increase water bills, and/or create toxic environmental issues. 

Here is a list of commonly flushed items, that should NOT be flushed:

• Diapers - cloth, disposable, "flushable"
• Facial tissues
• Baby wipes, disinfectant wipes, moist wipes, etc.
• Toilet bowl scrub pads
• Swiffers
• Napkins - paper or cloth, paper towels
• Dental floss
• Egg shells, nutshells and coffee grounds
• Fats, oils, and greases
• Chewing gum
• Cigarette butts
• Food items containing seeds and peelings
• Hair 
• Sanitary napkins, tampons, condoms or any non-organic material
• Vitamins, medicines or other pharmaceuticals
• Wash cloths, towels, rags (any cloth item)
• Clothing
• Sheet plastic or plastic of any kind
• Household hazardous wastes like paint, chemicals or solvents - instead dispose of these properly at one of the City's Collection Events
• Dead pets (small animals like goldfish, and gerbils are found in sewer systems), consider a proper burial 

Why not wet wipes?

Just because the package says "flushable" doesn't mean it's true. Many items marketed as disposable and/or flushable do not degrade like toilet paper, and they could wind up clogging pipes, tangling pumps and causing messy sewer backups into streets, businesses and homes.

Our sewers are designed to dispose of very specific things. Using your toilet for disposal of many modern products can result in blockages. The drains that connect your home to the main sewer are only big enough to carry water, toilet paper and human waste. Sewer pipes are often no wider than 4 inches.

The Flushability Test

Take two bowls of water. Place toilet paper in one, and place the item in question in the other. Swish both items in the water. Wait an hour, then swish again. The toilet paper should have significantly disintegrated by then, while the other item (for example, facial tissue, wipes, napkins, etc.) will likely remain intact. Unless the item disintegrates at the rate of toilet paper, it should be placed in the garbage and not down the toilet. Otherwise, you risk a blockage in your own pipes as well as clogging a pump station and causing a sewage backup for other homes and businesses.