1000 condoms a day found in the sewer!

The flushing of condoms down toilets is blocking the sewerage system in Zambia, according to a recent statement by Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company.

The company is finding over 1000 condoms a day. For me that is partly good news! People are using condoms. YA! But is the Lusaka sewerage system not simply old and unable to cope or is there no better way of disposing condoms?

I have seen them: used condoms limply lying there for all to see and for children to play with as balloons! Lusaka isn’t the first place to cry foul over this indiscriminate disposal of condoms. In California, America, after continued problems with blocked sewers, they launched the ‘What 2 Flush’ campaign which encourages people to flush only the 3ps: pee, poo and paper.

Condoms are not easy to flush. You might think you are smart by wrapping it in a tissue but it’s not uncommon to find a condom bobbing on the surfaceof water in the toilet bowl moments after you flushing. And that is just embarrassing if someone else uses the toilet after you. Imagine having to fish that out of the toilet. If it does make it through the toilet it might get either stuck in your septic system or a sewage pump or sewage filter, which still requiring some hapless soul to remove it by hand.

So if condoms don’t belong in the toilet, where should you be disposing of them? Wrap them up in tissue and throw in the garbage. A pit latrine is perfect but not everyone has those in the backyard. The latex of condoms is biodegradable but not if it’s in water, so dispose of in the garbage cans. Sanitary landfills are the best approach.

But what happens when you are in a spur of the moment quick sex with no tissue paper or bin at hand?

Find something, anything that you can put the condom in until you can dispose of it safely: the ashtray of the car, a can, a piece of newspaper—anything. And don’t forget to dispose of it when you can because you don’t want the next person who uses the car to find a used condom in the ashtray!

You were smart enough to use condoms, you should be smart enough to dispose of them correctly.

Used condoms don’t belong in public places, on the ground, hanging in trees or anywhere else but in the trash!