--- title: The Truth Behind How Airplane Toilets Actually Work description: When you press the flush button, a valve opens at the bottom of the toilet bowl and exposes the toilet to a pneumatic vacuum. canonical: https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-12T16:01:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:07.628Z og:title: This Is What Really Happens When You Flush the Airplane Toilet og:description: A mystery is solved og:url: https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7626ff69d6206306/6988c17486f68ee8676e41f7/airplane-bathrooms-toilets-work.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: United Airlines Highlights A 787 Dreamliner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is What Really Happens When You Flush the Airplane Toilet twitter:description: A mystery is solved twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7626ff69d6206306/6988c17486f68ee8676e41f7/airplane-bathrooms-toilets-work.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Truth Behind How Airplane Toilets Actually Work > Sponsored content. 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It covers the reporting, scoops and conversations shaping AI and the decisions facing leaders. #### Where can I get reported AI news rather than commentary? In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-loop-2026q3/newsletters?i=c2d99da2-47d1-47b3-8a60-e5b1d7831207&cr=time-nl-loop-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Airplanes Experience Turbulence [Watch (HLS stream): Why Airplanes Experience Turbulence](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HHa36YTr.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2016-08-12. News that 24 were hospitalised following a JetBlue flight proves that turbulence can be far more serious than just a few airborne bumps_ by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Apr 12, 2017 4:01 PM UTC  A touch lavatory is seen on the United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 30, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. A touch lavatory is seen on the United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 30, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Kevork Djansezian—Getty Images by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Apr 12, 2017 4:01 PM UTC There are some things we may never quite understand: how bread turns into toast, what happens to matching socks in the dryer, and how the toilets on airplanes work. But in the spirit of demystifying the arcane secrets of the universe, we looked into revealing the enigma that is the airplane bathroom. The modern airplane toilet system was invented by James Kemper in the 1970s. Before then, passengers onboard planes could attend to their duties in a slosh bucket, which would then either decorate the bathroom quarters when the plane hit turbulence or [be chucked out the window](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/What-happens-when-you-flush-a-plane-loo/) and land on the unsuspecting earth below. The Kemper vacuum system first appeared in a Boeing plane in 1982\. The system relied on a blue liquid—known as Skykem—a non-stick coating, and vacuum suction. When you press the flush button, a valve opens at the bottom of the toilet bowl and exposes the toilet to a [pneumatic vacuum](http://gizmodo.com/5953877/what-happens-when-you-flush-a-toilet-on-an-airplane). The toilet’s vacuum swirls its contents and deposits all the collected waste, and that blue liquid, into a “closed waste system.” However, contrary to popular belief, the captain of the plane does not have the ability to detach the toilet tank and send it plummeting mid-flight. (When people report “blue ice” falling from above, it is usually just a leak of the sewage tank or drain tube that freezes to the aircraft.) At the end of the flight, the toilet’s acquisitions are vacuumed into another tank on the back of a truck. Once the tank onboard the truck is full, it’s emptied out with the rest of the [waste from the airport.](https://www.faa.gov/airports/environmental/airport%5Frecycling/) Where it goes from there is far more mysterious. _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/what-happens-when-airplane-toilet-flushes) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://www.travelandleisure.com) ## Transcript [00:56] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/"},"headline":"The Truth Behind How Airplane Toilets Actually Work","datePublished":"2017-04-12T16:01:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:07.628Z","description":"A mystery is solved","url":"https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/","keywords":["Living","Aviation","onetime","Evergreen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7626ff69d6206306/6988c17486f68ee8676e41f7/airplane-bathrooms-toilets-work.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7626ff69d6206306/6988c17486f68ee8676e41f7/airplane-bathrooms-toilets-work.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"United Airlines Highlights A 787 Dreamliner","caption":"United Airlines Highlights A 787 Dreamliner","creditText":"Kevork Djansezian—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/","name":"The Truth Behind How Airplane Toilets Actually Work"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Airplanes Experience Turbulence","description":"News that 24 were hospitalised following a JetBlue flight proves that turbulence can be far more serious than just a few airborne bumps","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HHa36YTr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-12T18:12:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HHa36YTr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4726754/how-airplane-toilets-work/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```