This Wednesday the 19th of November marks UN World Toilet Day 2025, a day to take stock of how lucky we are to have sanitary waste systems that keep our homes and businesses clean and ourselves, family and friends healthy. Nearly half the world’s population, 3.4 billion people, still live without safely managed sanitation services with the resulting hygiene issues being responsible for the deaths of roughly 1000 children under five every single day! In honour of our wonderful toilets, sewers and waste treatment plants and our responsibility to keep them clean and ready for action we have penned a little ditty to sing along to: the Think Before You Flush jingle.
The Think Before You Flush Campaign, operated by Clean Coasts in partnership with Uisce Éireann, addresses the issue of flushing unsuitable items down the toilet and highlights the consequences of doing so. Flushing items such as wipes down the toilet can lead to blockages in our wastewater network and treatment plants, sewage overflows, and sewage related litter ending up on our beaches and in our oceans, damaging the marine environment. Many toiletries, such as wet wipes, cotton pads and dental floss, are part of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ which are the top 12 items that are incorrectly flushed down the toilet in Ireland. Other items include hair, paper towels, medicine, tampons, food items, contact lenses, condoms, cigarette butts and cotton bud sticks.
This World Toilet Day remember that our waste water systems are fundamental to public health and environmental protection and the choices we makes in our homes, such as responsible disposal of sanitary waste, can have a big impact.
Patrick Cross, Think Before You Flush campaign officer had this to say, “while it’s not something we often think about, our sanitary waste systems have a huge impact on how we live. Having private, working toilets and systems to clean the water we use is a real privilege and World Toilet Day reminds us that many don’t have access to such luxury. Lets take a look at the lyrics of the Think Before You Flush jingle to learn which three items are okay to flush down the toilet. Absolutely everything else should go into the bin instead:
Just the 3 P’s should be flushed down the loo.
That’s pee and paper, and don’t forget the pooh.
Think about your plumbing even when you’re in a rush.
To keep it clean and clear always Think Before You Flush.