To think flushing food down the toilet is disguisting?

[AppleCrumbled88]

I was staying with my in laws last week. They had cooked a big pot of curry and had some leftovers in the pot that they wished to dispose of. So FIL marched upstairs with his large pot in hand, straight in to the toilet, scooped the contents down the toilet and flushed.

I genuinely found it repulsive. AIBU?

Haven't read the thread so may not be the first to say this: I think this feels disgusting because it makes us equate food with shit in our minds, and we feel revulsion at the idea of eating shit. So the disgust is a somewhat irrational reaction to a subconscious association. If putting undigested food into the sewers had no adverse effects, this would probably be a sensible way to get rid of organic waste.

YANBU looking at the problems it appears to cause. We have a hot compost bin, so all food waste, including cooked/meat etc can go in. Before then we did the 'strain solids and put in main bin' method. Using the loo would never have occurred to me.

That said, didn't know about cat poo being a problem and DH has been flushing that so will have him stop from today!

'What do the anti-loo brigade do when they are sick? Presumably crouch without holding the loo seat whilst holding a sieve over the loo to catch the lumps? The sieve of course will need to be bagged and disposed of.'

They maybe bag it up and pop it in the bin.

' I think this feels disgusting because it makes us equate food with shit in our minds, and we feel revulsion at the idea of eating shit'
Think you're right. I mean, I'd never shove a half eaten sandwich in the loo but a bit of soup or Bolognese? Not a bad idea really, saves it leaking thought the holes in the bin liners and making the bottom of the bin go mouldy.

It's a bit weird. I leave mine outside for the fox or the seagulls.

And the rats ...............

Re cat poo & toxoplasmosis - when a cat is first infected it only passes eggs for a period of 3 weeks at most, & many cats never are infected.

People leaving food outside is the reason my accommodation is now overrun with rats.

If our local authority carried out bin collections on anything like an appropriate frequency, we wouldn't be forced to do things like this.

Its far from ideal, I agree, but we are really left with no choice.

...and to the people freaking out about pots near toilets - your remote control and computer keyboard are far more of a threat to your health than your loo - its actually one of the cleanest parts of most houses.

Also, at the risk of lowering the tone, do you refuse oral sex (giving or receiving?) that is actually pretty grim when you think about it, but most people are quite comfortable with it...

I used to hate draining the damp ceral from the milk and tipping one in the bin the other down the sink. But the alternative is grim.

We have a garbage disposal now.

Okay, for the folks who have collection once a month for your bins, I'm guessing you have large bins that are outside your house vs. the ones in your kitchen?

In that case, why not just throw the offending food (in a plastic bag) in the large bin outside your house? The smell and mouldy spores are out of your house and away from your nose.

Why not do it then?

Its far from ideal, I agree, but we are really left with no choice

Always somebody else's responsibility

Always somebody else's responsibility

Yes ,in this case the body to whom I pay thousands of pounds per annum to do this job for me.

A job they consistently fail to carry out.

You should buy him an insinkerator for Christmas

YANBU. Has he seen the fatberg on the news?

That's true Apple, most people digest fat, it doesn't come out in our poo. DS1 can't digest fat, and before he was diagnosed and on medication, there was nothing normal about his poo. I can't imagine your average poo creating fatbergs.

Its just completely bizarre to me that people are actually revolted by this. I cant work out what is revolting about it.
If a toilet can cope with shits, then it can cope with soup, weetabix and catfood.

Also people worried about food blocking sewers, yet will squish it down the plughole.

Other humans are just so weird about completely innocuous stuff

Branleuse, as has been explained repeatedly on this thread, the difference is the human digestive system which breaks down the fats.

If they are flushed down before they have been broken down, they congeal and form a fatberg (literally, it's enormous and hideous and was featured on the news recently).

Noone is suggesting squishing it down the plughole as a suitable alternative. Suitable alternatives include:

don't buy or cook more food than you think you're going to eat

have a plan for eating any leftovers later (lunch next day, freezer, ingredients in next meal)

compost if you can (which will be if you have any kind of outdoor space at all)

if you can't compost, put the food you really can't eat in the bin: at least it won't clog up the sewers that way

I don't find it revolting. I just think it is wrong, especially when water companies specifically request that only the three Ps go down the toilet.

All the waste goes into the sewers regardless of where it originates from and tipping food down the toilet adds to the problem.

Some information here

As for flushing cat poo down the loo. Don't do it. Waste water treatment does not remove the toxoplasma gandii parasite so it can get into the water supply.

Branleuse thank you for being the voice of reason.

Noone is suggesting squishing it down the plughole as a suitable alternative. Suitable alternatives include:

don't buy or cook more food than you think you're going to eat

No-one does that on purpose, but occasionally it happens.

have a plan for eating any leftovers later (lunch next day, freezer, ingredients in next meal)

See above.

compost if you can (which will be if you have any kind of outdoor space at all)

And these days, with housing at an absolute premium, fewer and fewer of us are afforded the luxury of a ground floor place with private outdoor space.

if you can't compost, put the food you really can't eat in the bin: at least it won't clog up the sewers that way

Well we would, except that most of us are unwilling to keep it a festering, leaking bag of partly decomposed beef casserole in house for two weeks at a time, for obvious reasons, but we are actively discouraged from keeping it outside of the house until bin day. Also for obvious reasons. Which is fine if you have a big wheelie bin wth lots of sawdust in the bottom and a back garden with side access, but for many, many people that is not the case.

By all means implore people to chill their leftovers then skim off any solidified fat before chucking stuff down the loo, (I am on your side there) but until we have a more realistic and civilised refuse collection system that reflects the council tax most of us pay, there is always a trade-off.

Your council want fortnightly collections? Fine. The price is the occasional fatberg.

And on the composting front, even if you do have the luxury of private outdoor space, composting animal products is a no-no as it attracts vermin and is a stinking health hazard in a relatively confined garden space.

I thought fatbergs were largely made up of wet wipes, san pro, nappies and vegetable oil. This. I have tipped soup into the loo before. Then the pan goes into the dishwasher. I don't want block kitchen sink or a clogged dishwasher.

Saw this and thought of this thread

www.independent.co.uk/news/cremation-councils-death-liquefy-burial-chemical-eco-friendly-a8115321.html