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Re:Toilets of the World by chillacy on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @11:35PM (#20512212)
Not just Brazil. Same story in South Korea (Seoul specifically I remember) and much of Thailand. My understanding is that the sewage infrastructure can't handle it. Those are fairly old cities, even if the building is new, it eventually drains into something that may be hundreds of years old.
Re:Toilets of the World by kijin on Wednesday July 24, 2019 @03:25AM (#20513009)
The sewers in Seoul are definitely not hundreds of years old; most of them were built after the Korean War.

The subway authority in Seoul had some research done when they were preparing to get rid of wastebaskets in their public bathrooms a couple of years ago. They found that the plumbing infrastructure is more than capable of handling normal amounts of toilet paper, even in older stations. But clogs happen when the paper gets tangled up with wet wipes, feminine hygiene products, and miscellaneous items such as pens and phones (yes, phones!) that are either accidentally or deliberately dropped in the toilet.

When the subway authority and other large institutions did eventually get rid of the wastebaskets (they're smelly nuisances at best and biohazard at worst), the change was accompanied by a massive awareness campaign to discourage throwing foreign objects in the toilet. Separate receptacles for feminine hygiene products were added to women's bathrooms. There were some hiccups at first, but I think the change has been well received for the most part.

tl;dr: Paper is not the problem. A widespread habit of throwing foreign objects in the toilet is.

Re:Toilets of the World by throw0101a on Wednesday July 24, 2019 @09:22AM (#20514967)
> feminine hygiene products

Many restaurants in North American cities have reminders that these should be thrown in the trash.

Then there's a co-worker's situation in his townhouse / condo development: some people, who are probably new immigrants don't know the rules of the road, have to be informed not to flush chicken carcasses down the toilet. Just put it in the green bin and it will be picked up with-in the week:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_bin

Re:Toilets of the World by kijin on Wednesday July 24, 2019 @01:01PM (#20517184)
To be honest, leaving a bin containing chicken carcasses outdoors for up to one week in 90'F heat isn't exactly a sensible thing to do, either. Those immigrants might have come from a place where the toilet doubles as the compost. So many things that we take for granted aren't obvious at all to people from other parts of the world.
Re:Toilets of the World by throw0101a on Wednesday July 24, 2019 @03:21PM (#20518697)
90F = 32C.

I'm in Toronto, and we get that kind of heat somewhat regularly, and the green bins haven't been a problem. It's the reason why they're picked up every week (garbage and recycling alternates).

Re:Toilets of the World by Camillo on Wednesday July 24, 2019 @01:16AM (#20512527)
It's not age that is the problem. You can flush the toilet paper in European cities older than Seoul.
Re:Toilets of the World by wiennat on Wednesday July 24, 2019 @02:18AM (#20512751)
Not only sewage infrastructure in Thailand cannot handle toilet paper well, toilet papers sold in Thailand also does not dissolve well in water.