Flushing toilet paper or throwing it in a garbage can?

When  I lived in Guatemala for 2 1/2 hellish weeks, they threw the toilet paper in an unlined trash can.  GROSS!  I SCREAM FOR FLUSH.

I'm pretty  sure those cans are for somethng other than paper. It is so unsantitary to place used TP in the garbage, I would hope everyone flushes it.

I just flush them.

I thought it was a urinal next to the toilet.  I had better take a closer look next time.  Thanks for the heads up!

Flush. Not gonna take any chances!

I flush. I dont think the garbage cans are for toilet papers. They are actually for feminine sanitary stuff, and it has to be properly wrapped before thrown into these cans.

Exactly.  Is women's room, unisex or family for feminine sanitary products or diapers, period.  No one would ever entertain an idea to use it for other  

Some bathrooms have these disposals on the walls and those that do not have, place the bins on the floor close to the toilet. I am sure you wont find these bins in men's bathrooms.

we flush..absolutely flush--i couldnt imagine the smell if we tossed it in the trash can....like a litter box.

 I flush the toilet paper. I cannot imagine throwing it into a garbage can and having to smell the results.

yuk, flush flush flush

When I first began to travel I was in reverse cultural shock as most of the rest of the world does not flush TP.  This article was amonst the papers we had to read before we travled to Mexico to live with a host family and teach in there Mexico.  It was the same when we travled to Costa Rica, Peru, Thailand, Malaysia and alot of western Europena COUNTRIES,.

"In many tourist destinations in Mexico, especially hotels, where modern sewage treatment is available, you are encouraged to flush your paper, just like in Gringolandia. The hotel management may even post little signs to let their Mexican guests know that they are expected to dispose of their papel confort down the toilet. They have to do this because Mexicans are trained from birth to be very polite.

But away from the tourist hangouts, and especially in private homes, you will encounter a small, covered, plastic or plastic-lined wastebasket near the toilet. If you see one, then be a polite guest and put your paper in there, not down the toilet.

To understand what etiquette has to do with how you dispose of toilet paper in Mexico, you need a basic understanding of sewer systems. If you are reading this from your home or office in Gringolandia, chances are that your toilet (and anything else that drains from your house) is connected to your city's public sewer system. Everything you flush flows through large concrete pipes to an industrial processing plant where the solids are separated from the liquids. The liquids are filtered and treated with chemicals and the result is released back into the environment in the least offensive way possible where nature finishes the process using evaporation and rain. The solids are also treated and refined, resulting either in trash or fertilizer. This immense infrastructure is quite expensive to install, operate and maintain. It also consumes a lot of energy. These are your tax dollars at work.

Gringos who flush outside the city limits use a private septic tank, called a fosa septica (septic pit) or sumidero (drain) in Mexico. In Gringolandia, a septic tank is usually made of a durable plastic and has two chambers. The first is called the sediment chamber. This is where the wastewater enters. Most of the solids collect here at the bottom where anything organic is slowly digested by bacteria. The liquids continue on, passing through PVC pipe (and perhaps some baffles to prevent large solids from entering) into the second stage, called the clarifying chamber. Here, particles are allowed to settle while the clearest liquid exits the septic tank.

Unlike their northern neighbors, almost all Mexicans use a fosa septica, which is not much different than a Gringolandia septic tank. This technology is very old, so the process is the same. The only difference is the materials. In Mexico, many of the colonial houses and other buildings were constructed before the advent of plastics, so most fosa septica are built from plastered stone or concrete block. While plastic septic tanks have one or more manhole covers to permit inspection and cleaning, Mexican fosa septica are generally covered with a slab of concrete and sealed with plaster, like a tomb.

The important difference between a traditional, Mexican fosa septica and a plastic, Gringolandia septic tank is what happens when the clarified liquid is released back into the environment. In the plastic version, the liquid enters one or more perforated PVC pipes, which are buried in long trenches about four feet deep, filled halfway with gravel and covered with topsoil. This is called a drain field, and it's where you want to plant your strawberries.

In the traditional, Mexican version, the liquid flows down into a filtro (filter), which is a concrete-lined pozo (well) filled with several inches of gravel on top, followed by several inches of charcoal in the middle, followed by a foot or two of sand at the bottom. Why use a filtro and not a drain field? One reason is because the filtro does not use plastics. Another is that this method takes up less space, which is a requirement in colonial urban zones.

But the filtro is the hurdle, so to speak, on the toilet paper trail. Even if much of the paper discarded in a Mexican toilet remains in the fosa septica's sediment chamber, tiny bits do float past the clarifying chamber and into the filtro, so that over time a paper mache sludge builds up.

How much time does it take to clog a filtro? Nobody knows. It depends on how big the fosa septica and filtro are, how many people are using the toiliet and how much paper or other non-biodegradable stuff they're flushing down there. It could take three years, or five, or ten. If you don't flush any paper, it could take fifty or more.

As you probably know, all septic tank systems eventually fill up with sludge and non-biodegradable stuff and have to be pumped out. In Gringolandia, where most septic tanks are located under a lawn in the yard, this is not such a big deal: just dig for a few minutes, screw off the lid and pump away.

In Mexico, maintenance can be a bit more trouble. Many fosa septica are located under the patio, or they might be under the foundation of your house or even partially under your neighbor's house, because many of these old colonial homes are the result of subdividing a larger mansion. Even when located in a back yard, the access is limited, which means the workers and their hoses will probably be coming through your front door. What's more, most fosa septica are as old as the houses. Digging into them, like unearthing an ancient tomb, can be risky, leading to cracks or a complete collapse.

This is where famous Mexican thriftiness meets Mexican toilet training. No matter what their socio-economic station in life, Mexicans stretch their pesos and pretty much everything else. When the convenience of flushing paper down the toilet is at the expense of flushing pesos by cracking open a fosa septica, Mexicans would rather have the pesos. In this sense, it would be as rude to flush paper down your host's toilet in Mexico as it would be to leave the door open on their refrigerator.

Most new homes and residential developments being built in Mexico today do use plastic septic tanks in their construction."

Hmmm...

Living in Gringolandia, we now feel uncomfortable putting paper in the toilet. Is it because sorting recyclables by hand is planet-friendly? Is it because it feels like throwing money down the toilet? Or is it just force of habit? Hard to say. In the end, we chose the traditional fosa septica for our new house. aND WE NO LONGER PAY TO HAVE OUR SEPTIC PUMPED OUT, NOT EVERYBODY WHO LIVES IN aMERICA IS CONNECTED TO CITY SEPTIC AND THIS NEW TO US PRACTICE HAS SO FAR SAVED US HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS IN sEPTIC MANITENANCE.

So now you know what to do when you visit our bathroom and why you are doing it. Thanks to you, we may never have to service our fosa septica.

I am a flusher.

my ex inlaws always used the trash can...after reading Aprils response I now know why. They had moved from Mexico when they were very young. I always knew it had something to do with the septic system - but couldnt understand what they meant as they lived in a city in the usa.