Averagely a household of five people uses ten rolls of toilet paper per week and about 40 rolls per month. This usage of toilet paper in households negatively affects the environment because of the number of trees cut to make tissue paper among other products.
Bamboo toilet paper differs from regular toilet paper because it is made from bamboo instead of recycled paper and wood chips. Bamboo toilet paper is made by first breaking down the bamboo plant into fibers and then processing them into a pulp.
The pulp is then processed to form huge giant-sized rolls that are later divided into small rolls that can be used as toilet paper.
A large number of people who use or promote the use of bamboo toilet paper may prefer it to regular toilet paper because it is an eco-friendly alternative.
Additionally, the process of turning the bamboo plant into toilet paper does not entail bleaching, the addition of dyes, or fragrances. These are commonly used in other toilet papers to improve their aesthetic appeal.
If you are interested in using bamboo toilet paper because of some of the benefits mentioned above, you might wonder whether it will cause blockage or poor drainage issues.
In this post, we will cover:
- Does Bamboo Toilet Paper Block Drains?
- Why Bamboo Toilet Paper Won’t Block your Toilet Drains
- Pros and Cons of Bamboo Toilet Paper
- Why is Bamboo toilet paper so expensive?
- Does bamboo toilet paper clog septic systems?
Table of Contents
Does Bamboo Toilet Paper Block Drains
Under certain circumstances bamboo-based toilet paper can block your drains. While bamboo toilet paper is made from 100% biodegradable material, flushing long sheets of the toilet paper in the toilet can cause temporary blockage.
This is also common with regular toilet paper and often occurs when a person tries to flush large masses of waste along with long sheets of toilet paper.
Although bamboo toilet papers are not nearly as problematic as highly padded toilet papers like the quilted ultra-luxury options, which have a higher likelihood of blocking your drain, there is still a minimal chance of blockage.
Why Bamboo Toilet Paper Won’t Block Your Drains
It is soft: The processes used to make bamboo toilet paper improve its ability to easily absorb water and disintegrate when flushed.
The unprocessed bamboo plant or semi-processed fibers can easily block your drainage because of the duration it would require to break them down.
On the other hand, bamboo tissues have undergone natural processing that breaks down the structure of the bamboo plant into a pulp.
Structurally, the pulp formed from the bamboo plant can easily absorb water when compared to the bamboo plant. The toilet paper from the pulp has a higher water absorption ability when compared to the bamboo plant.
While bamboo is among the toughest grasses in its natural state, the toilet paper made from bamboo plants is very soft.
The process of making bamboo toilet paper often involves fermentation of the bamboo fibers for up to two months to soften the quality of the resulting paper.
The fermentation process breaks down the bamboo plant fibers. The processing ensures that the end product is a strong yet soft toilet paper that is 100% natural and flushable.
It is 100% Biodegradable: The bamboo toilet paper has been made with 100% natural products and does not contain any additives or chemicals that might affect its biodegradability.
As a result, bamboo toilet paper is 100% decomposable. Bamboo toilet paper has also been certified as being a drain-safe alternative to regular toilet paper.
Easily Absorbs Water: The bamboo toilet paper absorbs water easily when disposed of in the toilet bowl. Unlike the quality of paper used for kitchen towels, bamboo toilet paper has been designed to promote water absorption.
This characteristic also makes it a good quality toilet paper, as users would not need to use long sheets of bamboo toilet paper to wipe themselves.
Water Pressure Promotes Structural Disintegration of Bamboo Toilet Paper: When flushing your toilet, the force of the water helps in breaking down the toilet paper. Flushing the toilet can be equated to shaking a half-filled water bottle.
The water pressure resulting from flushing the toilet helps break down the soft fibers of the bamboo toilet paper naturally.
The ability of toilet paper to easily absorb water after being submerged in the toilet bowl also minimizes the duration taken for the toilet paper to disintegrate.
Bamboo is stronger than regular tissue: The bamboo plant results in toilet paper that is much stronger, which means that it does not need to be as thick as regular toilet paper.
The strength quality of 2-ply toilet paper equates to 3 or 4-ply toilet paper. This also ensures that users only need to use a few sheets of bamboo toilet paper.
Preventing Drain Blockage
When using bamboo toilet paper or any other toilet paper, you can avoid blockage by:
- Avoid flushing large sheets of toilet paper. Your toilet can easily get clogged when you attempt to flush long sheets of toilet paper down the drain. While bamboo toilet paper is biodegradable and can be easily broken down with water, filling the toilet bowl with too much toilet paper is bound to cause blockage problems.
- Allow a full toilet bowl to sit for a few hours unused after attempting to flush long sheets of toilet paper. Since bamboo toilet paper is completely biodegradable, if you notice that your toilet is at risk of blockage, allow the full toilet bowl to sit for a few hours so that the toilet paper can break down before attempting to flush the toilet again.
Pros and Cons of Bamboo Toilet Paper
| Pros | Cons |
| Eco-friendly | Expensive |
| Chemical free | Difficult to find |
| Very soft and strong toilet paper | |
| Lint-free |
Why is Bamboo toilet paper so expensive?
Bamboo toilet paper is expensive because they are made from eco-friendly bamboo, they are created with a whole new manufacturing process, which results in the best quality and softness.
Does bamboo toilet paper clog septic systems?
Toilet paper is a significant cause of toilet clogs. This happens when your toilet has a weak flush and is unable to flush all of the used toilet paper down the drain. Furthermore, because ordinary toilet paper takes a long time to dissolve, it may end up in the trapway of your toilet drain.
This is why bamboo toilet paper outperforms regular toilet paper; bamboo toilet paper is both strong and soft. They quickly degrade when exposed to water and flow freely through your toilet drain and septic piper, making them septic safe.
Conclusion
Bamboo toilet paper is completely flushable. There is a very low likelihood that bamboo toilet paper would clog your drain. As such, using bamboo toilet paper will not block your drains.
Being an eco-friendly product, which does not contain dyes, bleach, or other chemicals, we believe that bamboo toilet papers are better alternatives to regular toilet papers that have been made from wood or recycled paper.
The toilet care practices that you should consider when using bamboo toilet paper are similar to those that you would need to consider when using regular toilet paper.
As long as you avoid flushing long sheets of bamboo toilet paper along with huge masses of waste down the drain, you should not experience any drain-blockage problem.
Read our comprehensive review of the 4 Toilet Paper That Doesn’t Leave Pieces Behind in 2022
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