Although the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has been telling people to flush toilet paper in toilets since 2017, roughly 55 percent of respondents to a survey still dispose of it in trash bins, the EPA said Thursday.
Asked why they continue to dispose of toilet paper in bins instead of flushing it, 44 percent of those responding in that way said they did so due to signage in place in public washrooms telling them not to flush anything in the toilet. Roughly 37 percent said they did so out of concern they would clog the toilet.
Photo: Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
EPA official Shih Sheng-chun (施勝鈞) said that such concerns are unnecessary, as all toilet paper commercially sold in Taiwan is safe to flush, as is indicated on its packaging.
Flushing toilet paper can reduce odor, prevent the growth of bacteria or the spread of infectious diseases, and increase the safety of cleaning staff and other users of public toilets, he said.
However, facial tissue, wet wipes, feminine hygiene products and other items not designed to be flushed should continue to be thrown into trash bins, he said, adding that if an excessive amount of toilet paper is used at once, that should still be thrown into a bin to prevent blockage.
Shih said the EPA would work with businesses operating public washrooms to address their concerns behind leaving signage in place advising against flushing toilet paper.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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