Rural accommodation Greece - disposing toilet paper and pads

[limetrees32]

Going with friend to stay in her usually unoccupied old family home in the mountains near Spartica.
She tells me that it's normal throughout Greece not to flush toilet paper but to put in a bin.
I'm not used to this , can someone help me feel ok about it.
I have very active and messy bowels !!

Buy a douche from eBay. I got one for the female squatting toilets at a festival ( just for wees but same applies).

Cool. Thanks for the heads up.

@larksascending Because she doesn’t have averagly normal bowel function and those of us that get regular bouts of squits may need more than just loo paper. Yes, a wipe will go in a bag and bin with the loo paper but it is an alternative when out and about to have a discrete small bottle - really handbag size than a ton of wet wipes. I second nappy or dog poo bags for disposal of paper detritus as can tie knot and put in the bin.

Am I being thick.. Why can't you just wash with a flannel?

You’d need a new flannel each time.

You rinse it out though? Some people don't use toilet paper at all

We use a bidet at home and for traveling I take a 'TOTO Travel Handy Washlet'.
It's battery powered, pretty powerful for its size, but is pretty pricey. $80 U.S. dollars. You just carry a bottle of water to fill it and then just blast your bum clean. The only TP you need is for a quick dry.
I bought it on U.S. Amazon. I believe it's made in Japan.
TOTO Travel Handy Washlet YEW350-WH

This is why I’ve not been to Greece since my 20s.

We’ve had this every time we’ve visited a Greek island. Take pack of nappy sacks and put your used loo paper in there. My boys (13/18) were initially a bit grossed out by it but soon got used to it

@CaptainMyCaptain it's a very old building which was built by one of my friends ancestors.
She tells me that when she was youn and visiting they did burn the paper outside.
Camping in the desert sounds amazing.

Its worth looking at colostomy disposal bags as they do not let the smell out. Also you can get larger water wipes on Amazon which will help with clean up.

Why you shouldn’t flush wet wipes down the toilet | Wessex Water https://share.google/ab6te0ucgnaPQV9Cy

Just a sample of the information online all saying the same thing. They might flush away down the toilet but cause problems in the sewers.

I stayed in a hotel in Turkey where they have the same policy. There was a tap on the toilet which basically washes your bum so you’re only really using paper to dry off before putting it in the bin. But I’d take some sanitary or nappy bags just in case.

Well you wouldn't have because that far down the sewer nobody would know who was responsible.

So you clearly feel no responsibility for other people or the environment generally. Shame on you.

IBD sufferer here 👋

I take nappy bags and wet wipes with me when we travel to Greece, no need for toilet ones as you are not flushing them anyway, just pop them in the nappy bag with the toilet tissue. (And yes I know you shouldn’t flush even the toilet ones here anyway).

@grumpygrape That is the point I made in my first post on this thread. These are NOT emptiable cess pits. They are sealed and Greece don't have any cess pit emptying service (even if it was not permanently sealed) to be empty it. I am rural but on the mainland and all my neighbours have this system too. When it was installed, the builders were quite clear that you have to dig one on another bit of your land if the first one is full. This is exactly why toilet paper and any other products cannot be flushed down the loo. Not only is there no service to empty them, we also don't get post delivered (you have to go to nearest post office, 8 miles away). Rubbish collection is from village communal bins on the main road 15 minutes walk away (no house to house collection). All our electric supply is in overhead wires, as the ground is too rocky to have them run underground (it is happening in cities and low level towns though). It is quite amazing that last year the authorities started running main sewer pipes to low level villages for the first time in our part of Greece. This must cost a fortune and well done them but unfortunately most householders lack the funds to link up their plumbing to the newly laid main sewer pipes..I don't think people realise just how cushy we have it in the UK.

Surely if you are horrified by poo covered loo roll in the bin you just empty the bin post each poo event rather than using dog poo bags?

The bins are emptied daily. It's really no more unhygienic than putting wipes that have cleaned a baby's bum or nappies in the bin.
I shall keep this in mind , you're quite right.
It's an old building , I'm not sure there's a shower.
And it could be 4 or 5 showers a day of I used it every time I had a poo😟.
I guess I'll be walking down to the village every day with the rubbish..
My friend is ,of course, extremely relaxed about this because she's used to it.

Apologies, I must have missed your previous post, but it does serve to hammer home the issue that people shouldn’t fill their cesspits/septic tanks with anything other than liquid, and poo/crap/call it what you will, not paper/wipes/tampons etc.. Despite being sealed these cess pits presumably have soak aways or they would need replacing more often than 10 years.

We were also advised not to use excessive amounts of loo cleaners/bleach etc. even washing up liquid.It’s amazing how little of these apparently essential chemicals you need to use to stay clean and healthy.

Impossible to prove. Thank you.

Are you using a smartphone?

I would definitely take some wipes, given you can't throw paper down the loo anyway. I do get it though OP, if I am having a Bad Time the result would make me feel very embarrassed if I couldn't flush it away. No matter how much it's just natural and a normal part of being human.

Take a roll of scented nappy sacks, you can bag and bin your paper.