Not allowed to flush loo roll

[userc]

Looking for advice please.

Live in a rented apartment, there are ongoing issues with drainage which management have largely ignored for the last couple of years (i.e., dealing with emergencies and then not taking advice that proper maintenance was needed). Big flood yesterday. Pipe is "compromised" and apparently is a big job to replace due to various structural issues.

Have now been instructed that toilet paper must not be flushed down and instead must be taken to general waste, which is down 6 flights of stairs and across the road for people on the top floors. Email breezily states other countries do this as a matter of course, and that we need to adjust our habits. They do not give a date as to when this is fixed, but it is likely to be months (I heard six).

AIBU to think this is crackers? You have a guest round, you insist they must put toilet roll in a bin and if it's a poo you'll just nip out across the road?!

If I was in a big family home that I owned I'd move to something like reuseable cloths or installing a bidet, but this is something I can't afford nor feel like I should be forced to. E.g., I run my washing machine twice a week (& don't have a tumble dryer) and it's already incredibly expensive.

Any advice?

I suppose the relevance is how long you want a bin full of poo hanging around your house for. Especially in the summer.

If the blockage or break is off the land which is part of the property belonging to the flats, basically anywhere other than in the garden area or if it joins to another property even in the flats yard/garden it is your local water boards responsibility to fix it free of charge.
You can report it directly to them and they will probably visit and check
Your landlord will then be contacted either way either will be told to fix issue they send information to environmental health if its private problem or they will fix it a lot quicker than 6 months

If I had to do this I think I would get one of those bidet sprayers you can attach to the toilet. I used to have one when my kids were in nappies.

As a temporary measure, get a 'The Original HAPPYPO XL Portable Bidet with 50% More Volume' or similar and then just use paper for drying and bin it.
(Amazon £19)

I don't care if some countries do this or not, that's rank. No way would I be doing that in a rented place.

I don't think it is irrelevant.

I'm not going to take out used toilet paper on my way to work or out to the shops as I'll want to properly wash my hands afterwards with soap and water.

Doing that 3x a day, on top of the general slog of work and life, for an indefinite period, is just a bit crap (pardon the pun).

"@Megapint but are you taking it down 6 flights of stairs and across the road? In a RENTED flat?"

But surely the 6 flights of stairs have to be gone down to leave the flat anyway so OP will be taking those stairs from time to time and can take a bin bag with her. The bin doesn't have to be emptied after each use of the toilet.

See my post above. Basic hygeine to wash your hands with soap and water and disposing of human waste.

The bin area is already really gross and cramped (room you have to squeeze into and part of you always touches a bin), which I'm sure won't be improved by people disposing their used toilet in.

It's not somewhere I ever want to nip into on my way out, especially in nice clothes.

Get a bum jug as an alternative to a bidet.
My DH is from a country where loo roll isn't the norm and we can't install a bidet so I got him a bum jug from amazon. Cost about £5.

Well I wouldn't be taking it down any stairs. A bin with a plastic liner would suffice and then poop scoop doggy bags for the paper into that larger liner.

I take it it's only until the plumbing is fixed? Have they given you a timescale?

It's their responsibility. I think the solution I've said is a good one. They can't force you to take it down six flights of stairs. No way would that happen. I do a wee very frequently, so it would be going into bags.

I get it though our toilet blocks very easily and I think it's a bit inadequate but it's easy unblocked so not too bothered.

Surely poo is a bigger worry than loo roll if it's that delicate?

Obv you're not going to walk 6 flights of stairs and across a street with a dirty poo tissues pinched between your fingers several times a day. Just get some nappy bags and put the tissue in that, wrap it up and put in the normal bin.

But yes, report to EH and look at moving too

That’s horrible op.

if it’s going to be a long time before it’s fixed you could get a bidet spray bottle (search on Amazon) and then at least the toilet roll you put in the bin won’t be as dirty.

Would it really be the EU thing? I think Germans are happily wiping their bums with loo roll.

"Either that or environmental health, MP and local press."

Oh yeah, OP really wants to be the poo lady in the local press!
Crossed arms and angry face in front of a toilet....

TBF, I would rather be putting it in general waste rather than using reusable cloths. For the same reason I don't use reusable nappies. I'm not washing poo. And adults poo!? No fucking way. If you have me a washes reusable cloth to wipe with that someone else has been using, I'd feel a bit sick.

Just get a good bathroom bin and take it out a few times a week. I mean, you take your normal rubbish out, right? Do it at the same time. Use nappy sacks to help the smell of the bin.

6 months is taking the piss though.

Gerald Durrell mentions how the “eccentric plumbing arrangements” of Greece cause Margo to make an embarrassing mistake at the beginning of My Family And Other Animals, set in the 1930s, so nothing to do with the EU.

It's not somewhere I ever want to nip into on my way out, especially in nice clothes.

Well, you obviously aren't taking your normal waste down there when you're on your way out, are you? So just take the bathroom waste bags down when you so your normal rubbish.

They could offer porta-loos in the yard. Is that a better alternative?

I think this is a very reasonable solution @Dontfuckingsaycheese

I might float it and see what they say.

I notice everyone is saying plenty of places do that but then only mentioning Greece by name.

Granted Im not the most worldly person (would love to travel more) and have never been to Greece but I have been to a few countries like France, Spain, Africa, Czech, Switzerland etc... and have family from Canada, South Africa, USA, Australia and friends living in Asia.

Non of the places I have ever been used bidets instead of toilet paper (every hotel in france I stayed in had toilet paper as did every local toilet I visited and lets face it france is the MOST famous for bidets) and where my family live dont either... all use and flush toilet paper so I never get that argument that 'we' are the odd ones.

Yes of course, but I don't have to take my general rubbish out 3+ times a day!

Not really, you get used to it. Would cost a fortune to redo all the sewerage system in Greece. Silly to let a little think put you off going back to a beautiful country.

There’s no way that everyone in your block is going to stop flushing loo paper

For a couple weeks this wouldn’t bother me as it’s the same as nappies, nappy wipes and dog poo.

But for 6 months I’d be annoyed as it’s quite difficult having any guests round.
But I’m not sure there’s much you can do.

Could you get like a diaper genie thing or camping loo which apparently doesn’t smell and you can put the toilet roll in there?

I've lived in a ('developed', although I thought developed/developing were taboo now) country where this is the norm so yeah, I'd be ok with it. I'm not saying you should put up with it - you signed a lease for a flat with a working toilet. Just responding to the 'AIBU to think this is crackers? You have a guest round, you insist they must put toilet roll in a bin and if it's a poo you'll just nip out across the road?' Where I was you had to wait until the evening to put the bins out, so those pooy pieces of loo rolls would be staying in your bathroom a bit longer. It was same in restaurants/cafés etc - no bidets. Anyway, it's not as bad as you think. Hope you get the toilet fixed soon though. ☺️