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Can you flush tissues or paper towel?

No. Put used tissues and paper towel in the bin. They are made to stay strong when wet. Toilet paper is made to break up in water.

Checked: 1 November 2026. Each fact below has a source.

Why tissues and paper towel block pipes

  • Sydney Water: “Unlike toilet paper, tissues don’t break down easily in water. When you flush them, they can build up and cause blockages in the plumbing system.”
  • Sydney Water: “Paper towels, designed for superior absorbency and durability, are not meant to be flushed due to their inability to break down.”
  • Barwon Water: “When you think about it, tissues are designed to keep their shape, even when wet.”
  • Coliban Water: “Unlike toilet paper, wet wipes, tissues and tampons are designed to soak up water, not break down in it.”
  • SA Water (2020) says that toilet paper is “deliberately designed to break down in around 30 seconds”, and that tissues and paper towel do not disintegrate in the sewer.
  • CHOICE: “In most cases, they take more than 20 minutes to disintegrate.”

What water utilities say

Each utility page that we read and that names tissues or paper towel puts them in the bin. These include Sydney Water, Water Corporation, Melbourne Water, Hunter Water, Yarra Valley Water, SA Water, City of Gold Coast and Goulburn Valley Water.

Water Corporation says: “Facial tissues, paper towels and wet wipes should not be flushed.”

Sydney Water says that it “spends $27 million clearing up to 20,000 blockages from our wastewater system”, and it names tissues and paper towels among the items that block its pipes.

Is any tissue sold as flushable?

We found no facial tissue sold in Australia with “flushable” on the pack. CHOICE says that makers should label facial tissue packs with a “‘Do Not Flush’ warning”.

Septic tanks

WA Health lists “facial tissue” and “paper hand towels” as items not to flush into a septic tank system. See wipes and septic tanks.

Which wipes can you flush?

The list shows every wipe we can find on sale in Australia that states it meets AS/NZS 5328:2022, with the source for each one. See the list.

Sources

  1. Sydney Water: Toilet Blockers Anonymous (read 18 October 2026)
  2. Barwon Water: don’t flush it (read 18 October 2026)
  3. Coliban Water: what can go down the drain (updated 20 April 2026)
  4. SA Water: don’t let tissues be your issue (18 March 2020)
  5. CHOICE: tissues buying guide (27 January 2023)
  6. Water Corporation: what not to flush (read 18 October 2026)
  7. WA Health: understanding septic tank systems (read 18 October 2026)

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