2/22    This is a serious environment question.  Is it better to flush used
        toilet paper down the toilet or is it better to put it in a trash
        can and throw it out along with the rest of the garbage?  Which
        method is more "biodegradable"?  Thanks.
           \_ FYI in Soda, at least, people generally don't flush
              their toilet paper. They throw it away in a trash bin in the
              bathroom.
              \_ I thought the people in soda ate their used TP.
        \_ are you allowed to use the word "serious" in a troll?
           \_ FYI in South Korea, at least, people generally don't flush
           \_ FYI in Soda, at least, people generally don't flush
              their toilet paper. They throw it away in a trash bin in the
              bathroom.
        \_ Are toilet paper, paper napkins and paper towels recyclable?
        \_ Just keep eating it till it's all absorbed.
        \_ Don't know about toilet paper, but I once heard that it's better
           to dispose of food waste into the in-sink erator than into the trash
           can because it gets "absorbed" by the environment faster.  Don't
           know if it's true.  -- yuen
        \_ Anything that goes into a landfill these days will take centuries
           to biodegrade since landfills are hermetically sealed to prevent
           things from leaking out.  It'll get processed much faster going
           through the sewer system.
        \_ Generally you throw away your TP in countries where the plumbing
           can't handle flushing it.  Throwing it away is pretty gross if
           you don't have to.  Anyway it all gets chemically treated with
           the rest of the sewage.  -John
        \_ Does the waste water and rain that go down to the sewage on the
           side of the road go directly into the ocean?
                \_ Yes, hence the "Don't pollute.  Drains into Bay" painted
                        by all the storm drains.
                        \_ so we shouldn't even wash our cars on the
                        sidewalks?  that's impossible to implement such a
                        law...
                                \_ No you shouldn't.  Blocking the sidewalk
                                   with your car is rude.  Use a driveway or
                                   do it in the street.
                        \_ your car is probably not as dirty as the average
                           boat that sits in the ocean all the time.  boats
                           pollute. cars pollute. fish shit.  all one can do
                           is minimize it by not pouring *excessive* waste
                           into the ocean.  Having worked on a boat, I can tell
                           you there is some *nasty* shit that gets dumped
                           straight in off of most comercial vessels, that
                           makes most seepage from land polution look like
                           a drop in the bucket.  not that that stops the
                           Coast Guard from handing out 10,000 dollar fines
                           to anyone dripping oil of the side of their boat.
                           if only the USCG had juristiction over gas stations.
                                \_ i mean the detergent ppl use on washing
                                their cars..  it also goes into the ocean.
                        \_ The ocean is already full of dirt - it's toxic
                                chemicals they're more worried about.

        \_ I generally don't like the idea of other people seeing my shit
           on napkins or TP, so I just flush them down the toilet. This is
           a normal thing to do in many countries.
        \_ This is so disgusting.  Flush it and remember that you live in the
           first world.
           \_ This is in direct contradiction to my ride bike mentality.
              Since we live in the first world, we have to act like the
              best people, since we know so much more. And bicylcing
              is a pro-resource method concerned for the environment.
              Think bicycle. Think first world. The answer to flushing
              or throwing out toilet paper will come to you in your heart.
                \_ Yeah, it goes down the toilet so I don't have to live in
                   my own third world filth and squalor and disease and the
                   reek from my own festering shit in the trash can for three
                   days until the putrid feces filled bag is finally removed.
                   Ride bike == live in your own shit?  Mine is disposed of
                   properly, not like some animal or barbarian leaving it
                   where ever it may fall.  Disgusting.
              \_ Personally, I am willing to say what many probably think but
                 don't want to say.  I don't give a shit about the environment.
                 I only care about my own immediate comfort and well being.
                 If we fuck up the environment, science will fix it later.
                 It's ok.  Environment is not as fragile as you think.
                 It is man's great hubris to think that he is "controling
                 nature."  Even in polluting he fulfills nature's purpose.
                 \_ I sort of agree but in a different sense.  For the most
                    part, no matter what we do to the planet, life will go on.
                    It just may not be human life or life as we know it'.  I
                    don't have a problem with that.  I *do* have a problem
                    with barbarians leaving feces stained paper in a public
                    trash can for _any_ reason.