A sticky question of toilet paper for liveaboards

[GHA]

It's not the method that repulses me, it's the storage of the paper, if the paper method is chosen.

Indeed.
Why use paper?

 

[RichardS]

Strange customs in foreign parts. What do you people do at home?

We flush ours down the loo.

+1

If the rest of the effluent is going into a holding tank, why would the paper not go with? We've chartered boats all over the world as well as owning our own and have never, ever used any plastic bags other than in the galley waste bin.

Richard

 

[Fantasie 19]

+1

If the rest of the effluent is going into a holding tank, why would the paper not go with? We've chartered boats all over the world as well as owning our own and have never, ever used any plastic bags other than in the galley waste bin.

Richard

....and if it isn't going into a holding tank why worry either - the paper will last a lot less longer than the "other stuff"?

 

[Ric]

+1

If the rest of the effluent is going into a holding tank, why would the paper not go with? We've chartered boats all over the world as well as owning our own and have never, ever used any plastic bags other than in the galley waste bin.

Richard

+1 Why on earth do you want to put used toilet paper in a plastic bag, stinking away in your heads and attracting flies? And what do you do with the full bags? Put them in the marina bins so you can spread diseases, encourage rats and flies?

If you want to use paper, get water soluble toilet paper (available from any chandlers). It "performs" no different from landlubbers loo roll, but disintegrates almost immediately when chucked in the head. By the time it has passed through the holding tank there is nothing left of it. No risk of blockages at all (presumable that is what you are worried about?).

 

[NormanB]

Dont use toilet paper at all . Go to supermarket and get dishwasher brush with disposable pads . each pad can last a long time if you wash in the pan after flushing or shoogling in sea water in a bucket


Get one with a nice curve on the handle and with foam pads - easy to us when sitting on the loo too . Don't use washing up liquid . It nips

Use stainless steel pan scrubbers - stainless lasts for years in a marine environment.

 

[RupertW]

....and if it isn't going into a holding tank why worry either - the paper will last a lot less longer than the "other stuff"?

Not so - the paper lasts much longer, perhaps weeks in calm water. To my disgust I've seen it a couple of times in anchorages hanging off rocks and papering them horribly.

We use little swing bins and normal plastic bin bags - hotels and bars in Greece use the same thing and our bins are a lot smaller and cleaner. I know that a holding tank without paper could be released a couple of hundred yards offshore but with paper it could end up on beaches.

If we were living aboard all year round I would regret the daily change of plastic bag so nappy bags maybe slightly better but I can't see going to allowing paper down the loo.

 

[jordanbasset]

We use disposable nappy bags in a small bin, about the right size to disposed of every day or two, and cheap.

Rolls of doggie poo bags.

Agree, we use them to. For those who have not used them when sealed they do not smell and it has the benefit of not blocking up the holding tank and not having used toilet paper discharged into the sea. A win, win.

 

[NormanS]

Agree, we use them to. For those who have not used them when sealed they do not smell and it has the benefit of not blocking up the holding tank and not having used toilet paper discharged into the sea. A win, win.

I don't see how cluttering up the world with "disposable" bags has any benefits.

 

[Caladh]

We use disposable nappy bags in a small bin, about the right size to disposed of every day or two, and cheap.

+1

 

[phanakapan]

Biodegradable nappy sacks- perfect solution.

 

[greeny]

No - but I did once post someone's dog's poo through their letterbox after following them home. Like you, I think that leaving your mess behind for someone else to clear up is disgusting, whether it's on the floor or in a tree.

 

[NormanS]

No - but I did once post someone's dog's poo through their letterbox after following them home. Like you, I think that leaving your mess behind for someone else to clear up is disgusting, whether it's on the floor or in a tree.

Oh! Excellent! Well done.

 

[Ric]

Still nobody explains what they do with their little bags full of poo paper. Most marinas have waste sorting bins - which bin do you put it in? Really disgusting if you ask me to be disposing human waste with household waste. I bet the authorities would not be happy about that at all.

As I said - just get water soluble paper and put it through the holding tank. There is absolutely no trace of paper left when I discharge my holding tank.

 

[Metabarca]

For our organic rubbish in Italy we use small biodegradable bags made from maize or something. Available from any supermarket for very little and of the right size for what you propose. The only thing is that they're not as tear-proof as 'old-fashioned' plastic.

 

[Richard10002]

Supermarket plastic bags degrade quicker than we are led to believe - I used to keep coins and receipts in supermarket plastic bags and, after a year or so, they would fall to pieces when I picked them up to cash in the coins, or do something with the receipts.

As for the poo, surely it's a natural by product of eating and drinking foodstuffs, so there is nothing in there that is not a remix of some of the stuff that went in at the mouth end.

 

[NormanS]

Supermarket plastic bags degrade quicker than we are led to believe - I used to keep coins and receipts in supermarket plastic bags and, after a year or so, they would fall to pieces when I picked them up to cash in the coins, or do something with the receipts.

As for the poo, surely it's a natural by product of eating and drinking foodstuffs, so there is nothing in there that is not a remix of some of the stuff that went in at the mouth end.

I would be surprised if you would want to keep your used toilet paper for more than a year.

 

[westernman]

Supermarket plastic bags in France or no longer made out of "plastic" but some biodegradable stuff made out of corn or something like that.

 

[Pavalijo]

We use biodegradable doggy bags - cheap enough for single use after a number two! Squeeze the air out, tie the top and chuck in the bin - job done

 

[RichardS]

Squeeze the air out ......

OMG :ambivalence:

Richard

 

[ip485]

What is wrong with a macerator?