The toilet paper issue! - Mykonos Message Board (2024)

4 posts

Destination Expert

You have heard right, the toilet paper (or anything else) goes in the bin NOT down the toilet. You soon get used to it! It's the sewer system that can't take it, not the individual properties. Do not be tempted to flout this rule, the result is definitely not pleasant!

You get used to it very very quickly. I always find when I return home i'm looking for the bin in the bathroom lol. The bins are emptied regulary.

Personally its never been an issue for me :)

Destination Expert

Not a silly question at all, it is a fact. It is very seldom mentioned on these forums because after your first time it just becomes natural and one does not think of it again.

Just one tip. I am sure most first time visitors want to test the system and try to flush to avoid the bin. Somehow the Greek toilets have been designed to swirl the paper around and deposit it on the side of the bowl. Now you are going to have to use the bin but now with soggy paper.

It is best to simply get used to using the bin.

Surprisingly we have never noticed any odor from the bins as they are emptied daily.

If you feel uhm about this, a great tip provided by GBfromDevizes is to have small plastic bags ( like sandwich bags or napy bags ). You get any paper inm close it and throw it in the bin.

Unfortunately, not flushing the paper is a common thing in Greece, Turkey and some parts of Italy. We don't think of it as something strange, although i guess it is. You really get used to it + most bins are pedal bins with lid and cleaned very regularly.

Jill, actually when u think about it, if one is environmentally sensitive, this approach is more "earth-friendly" because most waste-disposal systems need to be OVER=engineered and Over-caustic to deal with all the nonessentials tossed in the loo.

Finally -- since SO many people seem to pick on this as evidence of Greece being less technologically-adept than other Western countries -- you should know that this flawed system was Designed and Installed by Great Britain (!!)... before & after WW II -- UK miscalculation on a grand scale, and now system is so widespread it's impractical/unaffordable to retrofit.

Rule brittania.

We always take scented nappy bags .

Hi Jill

As other have said, you'll get used to it quickly. I've never stayed in any hotel that doesn't have the bins.

I saw blow-back (my words because I can't think of any other way to describe it!) on Symi once and it was a nightmare for the very small hotel and its guests.

Jon

I think Turkey has the same system. On my one visit there we had to use bins. Previous posters are right though - it's not a big deal.

PS.

On the subject of Greek toilets, I visited a kebab house in Barking Road (East London) on Saturday. The loos were authentic in a lot of respects. Gak.

Greece and Cyprus do it this way; but where I was in Turkey (southwestern interior), flushing the paper was normal; also Bulgaria, incidentally. Never saw it requested in Italy either.

When I was in Cyprus, I was surprised to discover they don't flush the paper either.

Okay... 2 things I can never understand about this whole flushing question...

1) what difference does it make to you where you throw the paper? Throwing it into a plastic lined bin with a lid takes no more effort than tossing into the toilet bowl. So why the fuss?

2) how come if it's all the fault of the British I have always been able to flush the paper down the loo without a problem in Great Britain?

Hmmmm...

I could understand if there were problems with the Greek electrics... that could be blamed on Lucas... but the British were always so good with drains...

;^)

Rob