This (not too pretty) picture is the reason why our wastewater staff asks you not to flush anything besides human waste and toilet paper. The image is of the digester at the Essex Junction Wastewater Treatment Plant. The job of the digester is to catch anything (including toys, needles, diapers, and all kinds of interesting things that makes wastewater operators great storytellers at parties) that cannot go through the system. Every five years, it has to be cleaned out at a cost of over $40,000.
This cleaning operation involves using a crane to haul out the majority of the wipes and rag materials that are flushed down the drain. The waste is then loaded into a dumpster and brought the landfill. Save a step and save ratepayers money….Throw the “flushables” away in the trash bin.
As you can imagine, cleaning a digester is not a fun job and it is very expensive. The next time you think about flushing something that doesn’t belong in the toilet, please throw it in the garbage and consider our wastewater staff and the work that they will need to do to clean up the mess.