Think before you flush: City of Bradenton says trash items are ending up in toilets

BRADENTON, Fla. - Mop heads, toys and candy wrappers. These are just some of the items that are being found where they shouldn't. That's because they're being flushed down toilets in Bradenton.

These everyday items can cause big problems, from backups to breaks in the system, which can cause wastewater spills.

FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon got a look at what's being flushed down the city's pipes and how you can help.

At Bradenton's Water Reclamation Facility, a bar screen pulls items that are being flushed down the toilet.

"It's makeup, hair, wigs, dentures. It’s a lot of stuff," said Donald DeMonia, the city's construction manager.

DeMonia and crews frequently find small toys, diapers and even cans of pet food. 

These items cause backups, breaks and lead to costly repairs. 

"When you dig it up, and you find it, and you think, all this time, all this and all what it took it was the one person not to flush it. It causes taxpayers money, frustration," said DeMonia. 

Dig deeper:

We took a look with Bradenton's Mayor Gene Brown and Construction Manager Donald DeMonia. 

"This is just all the rags, feminine products, baby wipes in there. This is just the stuff we talked about not flushing. This is where it ends up," said DeMonia. 

We found candy wrappers, a bulb syringe and lots of stuff that shouldn't be there. A while back, the city pulled out a big pile of rags that got stuck in a major lift station off Wares Creek. 

"We found the actual name of a nursing home on it. We tracked it back. It was a person that didn’t think they were doing anything wrong, but we were able to educate them," said Mayor Brown.

Big picture view:

This is something that doesn’t just impact the city of Bradenton. Officials say while you think flushing something once or twice might not hurt the system, think about all the others doing the same.

"We all think that one thing that we do won’t hurt something, but times that by almost 60,000 residents, and it happens once or twice a day and all of them flush something down that shouldn’t go down the toilet, then it adds up," said Mayor Brown. 

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As the City of Bradenton nears completion on $100 million dollars in wastewater infrastructure projects, they said residents can do their part too. 

"I don’t think people are doing it wrong, they just don’t know sometimes and accidents happen, but we need to think more and make it happen where it doesn’t get to the system because that’s what’s clogging it up," said Mayor Brown. 

The city of Bradenton said grease being poured down drains is another big problem. 

Just a short time ago, they discovered a massive grease backup on the east side of town. They were able to unclog it before it caused a wastewater spill.

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