While most of us don’t think twice about what happens when waste makes its way through the pipes — water departments know differently.

"I think that people's understanding is 'well, I mean, it's paper, right? So you can just flush it. It shouldn't be a big deal.' I think seeing the proof in the pudding, lack of a better term, just quickly showed that, yeah, you should really just be using toilet paper to put it in there because of what it's made for and how it breaks down. And then it's less taxing on our system," said Steve Mercier, with the Albany Department of Water & Water Supply.

The only product that disintegrates through the system, Mercier said, is toilet paper — not cotton gloves, paper towels or so-called "flushable" wipes.

"They're going to stay in the system forever until we take them out," Mercier said of the non-toilet paper items.

Even products like tissues can cause clogs in pipes and mechanical equipment, and Mercier said that cost ultimately falls on taxpayers.

'It's a big deal because it's manpower," said Mercier. "You end up having to fix things later on because they'll break, so it's just a big nuisance. We want to just try to educate: Just throw it in the trash."