The Consumers’ Foundation said on Wednesday that the government should develop a new national standard that clearly categorizes biodegradable levels of toilet paper and facial tissue and that manufacturers should improve the labeling on their products, including providing biodegradable levels.
A survey conducted by the foundation between Aug. 12 and Sunday with 1,340 individuals showed that 77 percent of respondents were in favor of flushing away used toilet paper — 55 of whom said they already did so — while 23 percent disagreed with the practice.
The survey was held in light of a controversy over calling on people to flush used toilet paper rather than throwing it in waste bins as a way to save on disposal costs.
As toilet paper is made mainly from wood pulp, it breaks down easily in water, while facial tissue contains both wood pulp and paper additives, such as wet-strength agents, which means that it does not break down as easily, said Wu Chia-cheng (吳家誠), a foundation member and professor in the Department of Chemistry at National Taiwan Normal University.
Used toilet paper can generally be disposed of by flushing, Wu said, but given that it is difficult to differentiate between toilet paper and facial tissue from the packaging alone, manufacturers should improve packaging and labeling to highlight the differences between the two types of paper products, which would enable consumers to tell one from the other, Wu said.
As of April, the nation’s household sewer connection rate was only 18.38 percent, Wu said, adding that toilet paper should only be flushed down in areas where toilets are connected to sewage treatment systems, or where septic tanks are emptied frequently, to avoid harming the environment
Toilet paper in many other countries is made from short-fiber pulp and does not contain bactericides, whitening and bleaching agents, Wu said.
This type of paper, he said, is the main source of food for microscopic organisms that can help pollution control by metabolizing organic matter in sewage.
He said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection should establish criteria for the classification of toilet paper products’ degradable levels to help consumers distinguish between products that can be flushed in toilets from those that cannot.
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