Q-Tips: Paper or Plastic?

Hello RAYSLENN

I had to look on Google Images to see what a "Q tip" actually was.

We call them "Cotton Buds" here.

These items are not intended to be flushed or otherwise disposed of down the drain.

The end may catch in a bend or pipe joint, and cause a further trap for other items coming later down that pipe.

If you have ever had to spend some $11,000 getting the back yard dug up, to repair the entirely blocked pipe, like I did once, because of earlier owners who flushed their cotton buds down the toilet, you make sure they are properly disposed of, ever after.

Q tips, cotton buds, toilet ducks and the like, should never be flushed or disposed of, down the drain.

A) Wooden Shaft:

1. Any use of what is possibly otherwise scrap lumber would save waste, and able to be recycled.
2. The advantage of the wood decomposing, in around 5 years, and thus fertilising some soil somewhere.
3. More costly for the makers of the Q tips.
4. Not as sterile.

B) Paper Shaft:

1. Takes 5 years to decompose, under favourable conditions.
2. Cheaper for the makers.
3. Paper products are generally more sterile, when new.

In the end, you'll have to weigh up the pros and cons.

We use plastic "cotton buds" here, because they are the only type available in New Zealand.

Kind Regards....

Ok, what is a toilet duck, or should I not ask?

Hello qaqcpipeman

It was best to ask, that way you may be educated further.

There are two types of Toilet Duck, one is a bottle with a strange looking "neck" which is used manually to squirt cleaning/bleaching/nice smelling fluid around the bowl of a water closet toilet, before flushing while cleaning the toilet bowl.

The neck fits up into the area of the bowl, in the interior circumferential slot, from the position where the flushing water is later distributed.

The above are safe to use, unless the bottle is dropped and somehow finds its way past the S bend, which is generally unlikely because of the rigidity of the plastic bottle, combined with its length.

There is a second sort of toilet duck, used in New Zealand by those who like to pay local drainlayers large repair accounts.

That is much smaller, made of perforated plastic, and is fitted with a solid cleaner/bleach/nice smelling compound, which slowly dissolves over several weeks, each time the WC is flushed.

This dangerous little duck has a plastic clip, like a duck's beak, which is used to hold it in place under the flushing water spray area.

Over time, the plastic clip weakens, and the duck goes swimming, being of such size as to easily pass through the S bend at the time of a flush.

Further down the pipeline there are joints in the pipework, whether the old type of earthenware with rubber ring seals, or the later UPVC type, and depending on the way the joints were placed in the UPVC pipe, or in the earthenware variety, that little beak hooks into the joint, and remains there.

The stuck duck gathers a growing collection of solids from the waste stream, until that pipeline is blocked, and often even a long plumbers cutting snake is unable to reach the wretched duck, thus the big digger job, with added expense, as the drainlayer purchases a new cash register, especially for the occasion.

Q tips, or cotton buds, may also catch in the pipe joints, with similar consequences.

I was unable to provide a picture of this more dangerous toilet duck, but located the picture at lower left, instead, as a warning should you ever visit Australia

Kind Regards....

Do you mean things like this?

I also though this was something I need to purchase since we are in this mode of inquiry and research.

Hello qaqcpipeman

I'm sorry to say you've spent the weekly housekeeping money on toilet ducks, but theose ones are not the sort I was describing as being dangerous to the bank account.

It's after midnight here, and my wife was not impressed to be woken up, and asked the name of the product.

For some reason I have a ringing in my ears, and a lump on my head, and I have been advised to "hit the hay".

I shall endeavour to find out, and advise you further, before you make any more unwarranted purchases.

Kind Regards....

Hello Sparkstation,

That last pic looks like Vermin with his red suit on messin' with a W. C. in N. Z.

The inlet screens of the modern wastewater treatment works will take out these solids and compact them prior to going to either landfill or incineration for process heating. Septic tanks are serviced at intervals by mobile tankers that will capture some of these solids from the septic system and transfer them to the municipal works.

So it depends upon one's attitude to plastics in landfill and plastics for incineration in the end. Frankly, the better destination for them seems to be via the municipal plastics recycling services, and let others make the best environmental choice.

Paper cups may have Plaster of Paris or other material added to for strength and smoothness. And it may also be laminated to keep water from causing it to get slosh. A truly degradable paper cup probably won't last long enough to drink the beverage. Manufacturing paper is also a messy business.

I have at least 40 year old plastic cups (Tupper ware) with very little or none degrading visible.

Given a choice I will go for degradable plastic cups they seem to be better.

Note either of the cups should not be flushed down to a septic tank. They may cause blockage and possibly kill the bacteria in the tank.

Hello Hendrik

The Topic is about "Q Tips" not paper cups.

Hope that's put you on track now.

Kind Regards....

Hi sparky

I was sure I saw "cups" somewhere. Maybe it was because I replaced the paper cup (used to keep my sugar) that collapsed by a solid a plastic cup.

Plastic Q tips - Thats the stuff I use to keep my eyes open when I am tired.

I can't remember seeing paper ones before.

Paper or wood is a renewable material we can and do grow more trees. These two will degrade in a land fill with in a short period of time relative to the plastic. Its a bad idea to throw any item down the drain that could clog it or decompose.

Maybe Q-Tips should be banned or carry safety warnings.

It would be a long list if every manufacture had to tell you where not to stick their product.

I have use Q-Tips most of my life to remove water after a late shower. Too keep water from running farther in during sleep. I just know better than to try to push it all the way thru to the other ear.

It's a good point. Avoiding law-suits with labels goes to crazy extents. I heard of a packet of peanuts that bore the legend "Open packet and eat contents" ! In that particular case it may have some reason - one of my brothers (when younger, I hasten to add) managed to get a peanut jammed up his nose. I had a quick look on the internet, and could only find one case of a bloke dying from a Q-Tip. He perforated his ear-drum and got it infected etc. Most of a cigarette packet in the UK is covered with some pretty obvious health warnings. On that basis, we should have similar warnings on fast-food and cars. CR4 doesn't contain a health warning, which is somewhat remiss of them since I've nearly died laughing here on many occasions.

So if I can't stick a Q-tip in my ear, the reason for me to even think of buying one would be...???

....Doing make-up/swabbing minor cuts ? Beats me. They're not 'lint-free', which adds to their dubious value. A mates cat used to love playing with them - it took great delight in scattering the things everywhere. For a laugh at word evolution, check out the original name of Q-Tips. Baby Gays !

My parents have this thing that if you didn't eat it first, it doesn't belong in the toilet. I often have to wonder about the TP.

I wonder how long it takes ear wax to bio-degrade....

All kidding aside though, when your q-tip ends up in a landfill, it doesnt matter what its made of, as its limited exposure to sunlight and the elements ensures it will survive at the bottom of the pile for hundreds if not thousands of years. And you aren'g going to fill a landfill with q-tips, not while people are throwing things like CARS in there.

Making new q-tips from recycled materials might work in theory, but I believe in the US there are laws regulating what percentage of recycled materials can go into certain products, and I believe that percentage is very low, if not zero, for anything which could pose a health and safety risk. For example, the plastic from milk jugs or soda bottles cannot go into making more milk jugs. Besides, recycled q-tips just sounds gross. Perhaps making q-tips out of highly biodegradeable PLA (plastic derived from corn starch) would be viable.

From an energy standpoint, the time you spent reading this on your computer probably used 1000+ q-tips worth of production energy.

I think your only real concern is the septic tank, in which case tell the wife she doesnt need make up. If you're a nice guy say something like "Aw honey you're naturally beautiful, you dont need make-up". Or, if you're me say "You dont need make up to go to the kitchen and make me a sammich!" or "Jesus tapdancing christ, whats with all the makeup? You trying to get into clown college?"

Avery Montembeault

Only one thing, if things don't degrade in the bottoms of landfills, where does all the methane gas come from?

Hello Brave Sir Robin

The answer to that question, Sir, you really don't want to know.

Kind Regards....

From a fusillade of cows flying over castle walls?

From experience, the only thing down the toilet is from you and TP. I had a clogged drain once, flooded the cellar, had to pay a guy $100 to rotor it out. He pulled some stuff out, I said, "Who flushed rags down the toilet", he said, with a wry look on his face, "tampoons". Family meeting time.

Anyway, they burn all our trash here, to make electricity.