What can you flush down the toilet?

When you flush the toilet, water and waste swirl down the drain and into the pipes connected to your house. From here they enter the sewerage system, a giant network of pipes under the city.

But these pipes are increasingly clogged up by things that don't belong in our drains. When materials like wet wipes cake together with grease, oil and other fats that people have poured down the drain, they form into giant 'fatbergs' that can block out city's pipes.

So what can be safely flushed down the toilet? Try this experiment and find out. 

Materials

3 tall glasses of water

2 pieces of toilet paper

2 tissues

1 wet wipe

Steps

1. Place two pieces of toilet paper into one glass.
2. In the second glass, place the two tissues.
3. Put the wet sipe into the third glass.
4. Stir each glass of water and see what happens. Toilet paper is specifically designed to break down in water and not clog up toilets. But wet wipes and tissues don't break down.

Imagine what the pipes under our city would look like if we all flush wipes and other inappropriate materials? It's no wonder they block up with 'fatbergs'!

Remember to only flush the 'three P’s' down the toilet: Poo, Pee, and toilet Paper!