Schools Spread The Word About ‘Think Before You Flush’ Campaign

Cotton Buds found on an Irish beach

Several Munster and Connacht based schools including Cashel Community School have joined the ‘Think Before You Flush’ campaign as part of the Green Schools Water Ambassador programme. The campaign has been set up to ensure that people are only flushing appropriate materials and disposing of wipes and sanitary products in the bin even if they are labelled as flushable. These items could be detrimental to sewage systems if they are flushed causing serious blockages and possibly overflows of sewage into waterways and oceans. Rubbish which is flushed down the toilet may also end up strewn across beaches.  

As members of the Green Schools Ambassador programme the students are encouraged to take part in litter picking in their local areas, recycle, promote the use of reusable items, create ponds for wildlife and biodiversity and much more.  

Uisce Éireann’s Head of Wastewater Operations, Nuala Woods has praised the advocacy for responsible waste management practices saying: “These workshops are crucially important to enhance awareness about the need to protect our precious environment. Many of these items discarded down the toilets of Ireland can end up in our streams, rivers, and on our beaches, creating a significant threat to wildlife as seabirds often ingest plastic and sewage related litter, mistaking it for food.” 

“We know from our research that attitudes, and flushing behaviours are changing for the better, but there is still work to do. Almost a million people nationally are still using the toilet as a bin. We are asking people to always ‘Think Before You Flush’ and take a simple action such as putting a bin in the bathroom.  Small changes in flushing habits will go a long way in protecting our precious environment.”