Baby wipes, wet ones, facial wipes, make-up wipes, cleaning wipes: Whatever their label or purpose, wipes are NOT flushable. These wipes are responsible for about half of all sewer issues in the UK. These wipes have been on sale now in the UK since the late 1980’s and early 1990’s so this has been a phenomenon we plumbers have seen now for about 30 years. But the message we have for you is simple:
NEVER, EVER, PUT WIPES DOWN YOUR LOO. ANY LOO.
The only thing that should be going down a lavatory is the three “P”‘s: Pee, Poo, Paper.
Why?
Despite what the manufacturers say, wipes do not disintegrate once you’ve flushed them into the sewer system. They are lying on the packaging.
Even if they are marketed as ‘flushable’, they absolutely are not. That’s the truth.
No ‘flushable’ wet wipes tested so far pass water industry tests
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46188354
Even if they are marketed as ‘flushable’, they absolutely are not. That’s the truth.
We have a mechanical drain spring at J & W Barnes with a claw on it that will cut through tree roots, and if it’s struggling with Baby Wipes, what makes you think that they are breaking up in water like toilet paper?
In your sewers and drains, Rats love them. They’ll make dens and nests out of the wipes and sanitary products like little duvets where the little loving rat couple can make 2000 offspring.
They are also not “Biodegradable”. Well, not the way you think of. They dont turn to compost. They disintegrate into microfibres (like cotton, rayon, polyester, and polythylene) over a period of months and years which infect and contaminate the water ways and sewage systems.
The scale of the problem
All wet wipes sold as “flushable” in the UK have so far failed the water industry’s disintegration tests, the BBC has found. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
Water companies (Scottish Water, Thames, Severn Trent, Anglian, Welsh, Yorkshire Water etc) say wet wipes don’t break down and are causing blockages which cost millions to put right.
Manufacturers insist their test is adequate and say sewer blockages are caused by people putting non-flushable wipes down the toilet.
Wet wipes are sold for everything from make-up removal to surface cleaning.
Most importantly when it comes to flushability, they’re available as moist toilet tissue.
The government has said it is working with manufacturers and water companies to develop a product that does not contain plastic and can be safely flushed.
The sticking point comes over what you count as “flushable”.
Wet wipes will flush – in that they will disappear down the U-bend of your toilet. The problem is what happens to them next.
Wet wipes are behind up to 80% of blockages in UK sewers, a key element of the infamous giant obstacles known as fatbergs, according to water companies.
They say it costs £100m a year to deal with them.
Skips full of wipes are caught by the filters at water treatment works and end up in landfill.
From their treatment sites across the North West, United Utilities collect around 12,000 tonnes of wipes and other rubbish every year.
Baby wipes (which are never marketed as flushable) were the biggest cause, accounting for 78% of the identifiable mass by weight, while surface wipes, cosmetic wipes and feminine hygiene products made up around 20%. In fact, the total amount identified as products designed to be flushed was less than 1%.
The impact on your home
However, you don’t need to look at national figures to get a sense of how this problem is hurting us all – this is a problem that regularly creates major inconvenience and costs for individual homeowners and businesses, and without corrective action, it’s only going to get worse.
Flush innocent-looking wipes down your loo and they quickly join forces with Fat, Oil and Grease (or FOG as it’s known in the trade) which many people persist in washing down the drain (the other big no-no). FOG congeals into big nasty lumps in the sewer. Wipes stick to it. More fat congeals. More wipes (and possibly sanitary towels, tampons and nappies) join the party. And so on. This is how Fatberg’s happen.
Before you know it, your drain is blocked. The sewer contents are coming back up through your toilet, or even your sink, and suddenly you’re landed with a huge financial headache – not just to pay for the cost of getting the drain unblocked, but also to clean, repair or replace anything that was damaged by the flooding.
Even those who haven’t had to deal with an issue like this in their own home are still likely to be paying for the problem through higher utility bills. Thames Water, which serves 14 million people in London and the Thames Valley, spends £1 million every month clearing nearly 7,000 blockages from 109,000km of sewers. What’s more, each year 7,000 Thames Water customers’ gardens and 1,000 homes are flooded with sewage, with flushed food fat and wet wipes shown to be responsible for about half of these incidents. For United Utilities in the north west, the cost is even higher – a staggering £20 million a year to tackle 53,000 blockages, with only half as many customers as Thames.
At the moment, EDANA – the trade association representing the wet-wipes, absorbent hygiene and nonwoven industries – has agreed to bring in a new code of practice to ensure that companies prominently label their wet wipe products with Do Not Flush symbols; subsequent to this, the British government has issued a pledge to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042, which could potentially involve a ban on wet wipes.
This might not happen, but it’s down to you. Dont flush it, BIN IT.
