Choosing toilet paper:

Should we use special or bio-degradable toilet paper when a home is connected to a private septic system? What kinds of paper or toilet tissue may damage the septic tank or leach fields?

Which toilet tissue is best to use?

Are Special Toilet Tissue or other Special Septic Products Needed for Homes Connected to a Private Septic Tank & Drainfield?

Discussed here: Does toilet tissue create a problem in the septic tank?

Should we be using special kinds of biodegradable toilet tissue?Recommendations for use of recycled-paper toilet tissue versus ultra-soft fluffy toilet paper brands address using recycled paper versus cutting down standing trees. Recommendations for use of biodegradable toilet paper

Ordinary toilet tissue does not appear harm ordinary septic tank and drainfield systems

In a conventional septic system using a tank and drainfield, ordinary toilet tissue does not harm the septic system. The tissue remains in the septic tank, kept from flowing into the drainfield by septic tank baffles.

Actually lower-cost toilet tissues such as the Rite-Aid bathroom tissue shown at left perform better (break down faster and more completely) in septic tanks than some plush extra soft brands containing softening additives.

Eventually (we think) toilet tissue breaks down in the septic tank and is not a solid bulk problem at normal levels of usage.

See TOILET TISSUE TEST for details.

But as we discuss just below at What About Putting No Toilet Paper into the Septic Tank At All? we're not sure about the ultimate breakdown of cellulose fibers from toilet tissue, and the break-down of toilet paper may vary depending on the type of paper and its composition.

Certainly, other types of paper or paper products (writing paper, newspaper, magazine paper, bills and private letters) should not be flushed down a toilet.

See WHAT CAN GO INTO TOILETS & DRAINS?.

That document explains how to extend the life of the septic system by being careful about what goes into it.

Toilet paper made from recycled paper is recommended

However, because the manufacture of fluffy soft toilet tissue requires the use of new wood fibers from trees, we recommend that consumers purchase and use toilet tissue made of recycled paper.

Not because soft toilet tissue hurts our septic system, but because ultra-soft tissue brands mean we're flushing our forests down the drain unnecessarily.

Look for toilet tissue that is made entirely or at least in part from recycled paper. It won't hurt you.

In February 2009 Greenpeace joined the ranks of associations who recommend against flushing our trees down the toilet.

What About Putting No Toilet Paper into the Septic Tank At All?

In some areas toilet tissue is not flushed into the septic system at all: Our photo (left) shows a home-made toilet paper dispenser in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. In many areas of Mexico custom is to avoid flushing toilet tissue into the septic system at all. Instead a waste container is provided near each toilet, and the user disposes of tissue therein.

Inspecting the interior of septic tanks in other areas of North America, we don't observe large volumes of visible toilet tissue forming a big percentage of the solid waste retained in the septic tank. But our Mexican neighbors might be on to something.

While we think that toilet paper "dissolves" in septic effluent, preliminary results of our own laboratory test of the break-down of toilet tissue in tap water show that fine particles of cellulose may be discharged to the drainfield, possibly adding to soil clogging there.

But our lab test is incomplete, and has not yet considered the effects of bacteria and water-borne fungi in cellulose decomposition in septic systems.

See TOILET TISSUE TEST.

Note: actually a very common reason for avoiding sending anything unnecessary down a toilet drain, including toilet tissue, is that in some locales building drain piping is small in diameter, old, poorly installed, includes unnecessary bends or sharp angles, and is more prone to clogging than otherwise. Avoiding sending handfuls of toilet tissue down the drains along with solid wastes can help avoid clogging drain piping.

What is Toilet Paper Made From?

Traditional toilet paper used in a privy or outhouse included books, newspapers, the Sears catalog, corncobs, scraps of rag, and whatever else was at hand.

Since all waste including toilet paper ended up in the same direct-deposit system there was no concern for clogged pipes nor interference with a soakbed operation.

Austin Woerner, writing for The New York Times Magazine and interviewing Su Wei, a novelist who teaches Chinese languate and literature at Yale, gave this interesting report by Su Wei who described the effects of Chairman Mao's ban on feudalist or capitalist or revisionist literature in China during the cutlural revolution.

Fifteen year old Sue began working on the Xipei Rubber Plantation in southern China.

"... one morning, as I was preparing to go to work, I saw a thick wad of paper nailed to a door with a heavy metal spike. It was a novel by Liu Qing, and it was called "To Build a New Life."

The older boys liked to steal books from the shuttered plantation library and pin them to their doors, so they could tear off pages to use as bathroom tissue when they went to the latrine." - Su Wei, as told to Austin Woerner, "Privy to the Plot", The New York Times Magazine, March 2015, p. 28. Other translations: "The Builder of a New Life". Liu Qing / Liu Yunhua (1916 - 1978).

Su continues to explain that by finding something else to be used as toilet paper he was ermitted to rescue Liu Qing's novel - a text that began his real education that he continued by reading other books that he saved from "a similar fate" as toilet paper in southern China.

Modern toilet tissue with a high percentage or even 100% of recycled paper is less soft and fluffy than other brands, but we agree with Dr. Allen Heskowitz, senior scientist and waste expert at the Natural Resource Defense Council who, according to a 2009 New York Times report, said

"No forest of any kind should be used to make toilet paper." The Times reported that American "... obsession with soft paper has driven the growth of brands like Cottonelle Ultra™, Quilted Northern™ and Charmin Ultra™" brands of toilet tissue.

Producers of "Soft" Toilet Tissue

Proctor & Gamble produces soft toilet tissue sold under the Charmin Ultra™ brand. Kimberly Clark produces soft toilet paper produces soft toilet tissue sold under the Cotonelle™ brand. Scott™ produces soft fluffy toilet tissue as well. Georgia Pacific is the parent company of the toilet tissue brand Quilted Northern Ultra™.

Some of these manufacturers also produce other toilet papers made from recycled paper. (See below).

What is Used to Make Soft Toilet Tissue?

The manufacture of these ultra-soft toilet papers (and similar soft tissue sold under other brands) requires the use of paper made from live, standing trees. According to the Times article, 25% to 50% of the wood pulp used in toilet paper comes from tree farms in South America and the U.S.

The remaining 50% to 75% of toilet paper wood pulp is cut from old growth forests including Canadian old growth timber. Some of these boreal forest trees are 200 years old, and all of them were functioning as an important carbon sink.

Use Recycled-Fiber Toilet Tissue

Toilet paper made from recycled paper fibers also uses less chlorine-based bleach, reducing groundwater pollution, and it produces less landfill volume as well. Using recycled paper-based toilet tissue also means that the volume of toilet tissue in private septic tanks will actually be reduced, possibly slightly extending the time between septic tank pumpouts.

Use Alternatives to Toilet Paper: Disposable Wet Wipes & Baby Wipes?

Really? Generally you'd be advised to keep these out of your toilets, plumbing system, septic system, or sewer system.

For details - see DISPOSABLE WET WIPE CLOGS

Also see NEVER FLUSH INTO SEPTICS for a complete list.

Where to Buy Toilet Paper made from Recycled Paper

Greenpeace recommends these toilet tissue brands as "most green": Green Forest, 365, April soft, Earth Friendly, Fiesta & Fiesta Green, Natural Value, Seventh Generation, Trader Joe's.

Marcal Small Steps and Earth First are also made of 100% recycled fibers but with low percentage of post-consumer content. High post-consumer content toilet paper brands are less likely to have come from ancient forests.

Marcal Corporation markets recycled paper-based toilet paper through Walgreens at prices below the "soft fluffy" brands.

Kimberly Clark Corporation was reported in the Times as not philosophically opposed to recycled products and the company uses them in products sold to restaurants, offices, and schools.

Bio-degradable toilet tissue is recommended in certain cases

Where a chemical toilet is in use, such as on a boat or recreational vehicle, special toilet tissue which dissolves rapidly is recommended.

These other kinds of paper should never be flushed into a septic system

• Paper Towels: Do not flush paper towels into the septic system.
• Documents & newsprint: Do not use your toilet to dispose of unwanted documents, torn-up or not. Most document papers, even newsprint, are slow to degrade in a septic tank.
• Facial tissues into the septic are ok? maybe not. Some authorities also advise not flushing facial tissues into the septic system

See TOILET TISSUE TEST for an explanation of how bathroom tissue breaks down in the septic system.

See WASTEWATER TREATMENT BASICS for a simple explanation of how septic systems work.

Use of Recycled Paper - Based Toilet Paper, US EPA Recommendation, vs. Septic Tank Enzymes

Readers have often asked if it is necessary to add a septic tank treatment chemical or enzyme to reduce septic system clogging problems due to use of toilet paper.

No septic system additives are needed for system maintenance, and some are illegal in some states and in all of canada all of them are illegal, as we discuss in this article (see above).

See our article TOILET TISSUE CHOICES for a discussion of recommended kinds of toilet paper to use in homes connected to a septic system. Even regular toilet tissue breaks down to fine particles quickly. Also

see TOILET TISSUE TEST.

But in our OPINION (and that of the US EPA) we recommend using recycled paper-based toilet paper because of the benefit of saving trees - it’s too bad to chop down and grind up new trees to make toilet paper.

The data below quotes from the US EPA's information on Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) products, including types of toilet tissue and tissue vendors: [Bathroom Tissue - US EPA's comprehensive bath tissue procurement guidelines (CPG): the following quotes from the US EPA]

Commercial/ Industrial Sanitary Tissue Recommendations from the US EPA

Sanitary tissue products include bathroom and facial tissue, paper towels, napkins, and general-purpose industrial wipers.

They are generally sold in rolls or sheets and are used in personal care, food service, and cleaning applications.

The grades of sanitary tissue products covered in the CPG are manufactured for use by restaurants, hotels, schools, government agencies, and other similar commercial and institutional buyers. Some recycled-content sanitary tissue products are softer, stronger, and more absorbent than others.

Notes to the table above

NOTE: The toilet paper content levels should be read as X% recovered fiber, including Y% post consumer fiber and not as X% recovered fiber plus Y% postconsumer fiber.

Toilet Paper Product Information:

• Database of Manufacturers and Suppliers including toilet tissue using recycled paper: This database identifies manufacturers and suppliers of commercial/industrial sanitary tissue products containing recovered fiber.
  [See epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/tools/cpg/database.htm ] - we did not find this data base working very well at producing lists of recycled toilet tissue manufacturers - but see our product lists and description at TOILET TISSUE CHOICES
• GSA Advantage!: Sanitary tissue products can be ordered through the General Service Administration's (GSA's) online ordering system. In addition, GSA publishes various supply catalogues, guides, and schedules for recycled-content products available through the Federal Supply Service. [See gsaadvantage.gov ]

Question: what's the best toilet paper to use to avoid harming the septic system?

2018/06/20 Rena said:

What is best toilet paper to use that will not cause septic problems?

This question and reply were posted originally

at TOILET TISSUE TEST

[Click to enlarge any image]

Reply: pumping the septic tank on time is more important than choice of toilet paper

Rena

Thanks for an important and popular question: which TP is best to use to avoid septic problems.

IMO any TP is fine.

Any toilet tissue that has not broken down in the septic tank will be removed when the septic tank is pumped - on schedule. That pumping is the most-critical step to maintain the septic system.

See SEPTIC TANK PUMPING SCHEDULE

There are a few details worth considering:

1. There's not much difference in my experience between the breakdown rate of toilet papers:

The toilet tissue test I report on above was begun in 2009 and 2010 using conventional toilet paper in water (2009) and Coleman RV toilet paper in 2010. Today, eight years later, both bottles show that the paper looks about the same.

To be fair, I'm using water, not sewage that would contain more bacteria that might speed the paper's break-down.

However there is some bacterial action going on even in my toilet paper samples.

A photo of the ongoing toilet paper test samples is below.

2. There is some risk that a toilet paper that claims to rapidly break down into small particles (recommended for RV or chemical toilet use) might actually cause damage to some septic drainfields:

if other septic system defects like a lost baffle or tank tee or the absence of a septic tank outlet filter permits solids to flow into the drainfield, those small paper fragments might speed field clogging.

...

Continue reading  at TOILET TISSUE TEST or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see TOILET TISSUE CHOICES FAQs - questions & answers about types of toilet paper posted originally at this page.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• DISPOSABLE WET WIPE CLOGS
• NEVER FLUSH INTO SEPTICS
• TOILETS, DON'T FLUSH LIST
• TOILET TISSUE CHOICES
• TOILET TISSUE TEST

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