Forum Topic

Bin, Don't Flush' Wet Wipes

5,000 wet wipes were found in one single area of the Thames foreshore near Hammersmith Bridge, 5,453 on a 116 square metre stretch of foreshore.   Thames21 says it has watched the Thames riverbed change shape over the past five years, as thousands of wet wipes get dumped on our foreshore. All users of Wet Wipes need to be made aware that these MUST NOT be flushed down the loo.    This is a very alarming story, The Thames is just a tiny speck amongst all the other rivers and seashores in the World.  It should be made compulsory for the manufacturers of these products to spell out loud and clear on their packaging that these products are NOT to be flushed down the loo - ever - but put into the general rubbish for incineration.

Jennifer Selig ● 2765d7 Comments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bc2h0jFirst episode - watch it again if you missed it so you can understand what is happening...

Philippa Bond ● 2754d

:)  The more ideas the better - some suit and some don't!The website and page were:  http://myzerowaste.com/2015/01/zero-waste-make-up-remover/I want to try the bamboo loo paper some time as I'm told it is silky smooth - but don't intend buying a box of 24 to find out.

Philippa Bond ● 2760d

If and when I have a heavy cold, I use loo paper and flush it away rather than "filing" germ filled soggy tissues in the bathroom waste bin and later the black bag.  For day to day use I do not choose to give up tissues (my cloth handkerchiefs disappeared a long time ago) and I use tissues to remove make-up.  Do NOT like any of the suggestions on yet another of your websites.

Jennifer Selig ● 2760d

Apparently they have short fibres (the reason that shredded paper tends not to be wanted).  Clean paper is what is always wanted and if there was some sort of flu epidemic nobody would want to be put at risk by them.

Philippa Bond ● 2761d

Face tissue also should NOT be flushed down the loo.  They do NOT degrade like toilet tissue does.  Mine all go into the black bag general waste, I don't think they can be recycled like ordinary paper but someone might like to correct me on that.

Jennifer Selig ● 2761d

Here's the front page article for future reference:http://www.brentfordtw8.com/default.asp?section=info&link=http://neighbournet.com/server/common/conthames061.htm

Philippa Bond ● 2762d

You beat me to it!When I wrote about these recently the family I was with had a packet of wet wipes in the house.  On the front it said "Flushable" and on the back in small print it basically said not really.  Only this is no joke.This is cynical marketing at its most misleading and ecologically negligent.When flushed they also help to create the enormous fatbergs that have to be dug out of our sewers because they do not disintegrate in the same way as loo roll does and there are plenty of other things that shouldn't be flushed. Oil and fat shouldn't be or put down the drain where it congeals and sticks to them.Businesses should sign up for an oil collection service - there is a local award winning one.None of the water companies want wet wipes flushed down the loo. You may also wish you hadn't and had been more careful. https://play.buto.tv/tYlcphttp://westlondonwaste.gov.uk/reuse-guide/cooking-oil-2/ 

Philippa Bond ● 2765d