Ask the Eco Geek: Flush or toss the tissue

Water issues aside (assuming I will flush anyway), is it better to flush a tissue or throw it in the garbage? Adam Twersky, Washington, DC Life usually doesn't end for a consumer product just because you're finished with it. Items can be reused, repaired, recycled or useful components can be recovered. When you pitch something in the garbage, however, it kills that potentially beneficial cycle. You can't recycle tissues, but throwing in the towel -- or the tissue -- should be your last resort. Garbage dumps are expensive, rob land of otherwise productive uses, can leach dangerous chemicals into groundwater and produce gases that contribute to climate change. So feeling flush? Lisa Boynton, senior communications advisor for Toronto Water, says tissues generally don't survive a journey through the sewer system. "Ninety-five percent of tissues," she says, "dissolve in the water." However, in Toronto and other large Canadian cities like Ottawa and Halifax, that final five percent contributes to sludge extracted during the treatment process, which can end up in landfill or on a farmer's field. In Victoria, the residue from a tissue is simply flushed into the Pacific via the Strait of Juan de Fuca. There is, however, a simple solution to your dilemma that will lengthen this product's life cycle: compost your tissue or, if your municipality collects organic waste, throw it into your green bin with your food scraps. And remember: the tissue you're using may come directly from a tree in Canada's endangered boreal forest. Facial tissues were first introduced in 1924 as a cotton replacement to facilitate makeup removal. They stood in for an item that doesn't need to be tossed after every use, so how about returning to the good old-fashioned handkerchief?

Got a pressing environmental question? Ask Steve Bearton, journalist, environmental advocate and the Eco Geek!