'Do Not Flush' Labelling on Wet Wipes

Half of all sewage blockages are thought to be caused by non-flushable products as they do not dissolve the same as regular toilet paper. 

UK water companies are urging a national trading standards body to help stamp out “misleading” labelling on disposable wet wipes that are marketed as flushable but clog up drains and litter oceans at huge environmental cost. 

They are calling on manufacturers of moist toilet tissues and other non-biodegradable cleaning cloths such as bathroom cleaning wipes – which are routinely flushed away by consumers in their toilets – to ensure that such products are prominently labelled as not flushable and are to be disposed of in a bin.

In a letter to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), Tony Harrington of the trade body Water UK urges the institute to launch its own investigation into an issue which he says is “adversely” affecting consumers and the environment.

Wet wipes and other products which find their way into our sewers are not dissolvable like standard toilet paper, but instead may contain materials which do not disintegrate in the same way that a paper-based tissue does

“This can lead to materials like plastics being released into the environment (similar to microbeads, a product that has received considerable media attention, and which the government has committed to ban for cosmetics), substances which we are now aware could have consequences for the human food chain.”

Harrington, who is chair of the 21st Century Drainage Programme Board, a Water UK-sponsored sector group looking at more resilient urban drainage systems, said that misleading labelling and instructions are fuelling the problem.

“It is our belief that whilst manufacturers are still able to advertise their products as being ‘flushable’, or sell them with no suitable guidance on the label as to disposal, consumers will continue to dispose of them by incorrectly flushing them into the sewer system,” the letter reads. “As far as we can see, having clear and prominently visible ‘Do Not Flush’ labelling and removing the word ‘flushable’ from all packaging is the only acceptable and environmentally responsible way forward, while available products fail to meet water industry standards for flushability.” 

In the UK alone, water companies spend approximately £88m of customers’ money clearing an estimated 360,000 blockages annually in the sewerage network. Half of these blockages are avoidable and are caused by the incorrect disposal of wet wipes and other hygiene products via toilets. 

Source: The Guardian

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• Environment
• Infrastructure
• Infrastructure Management