When it comes to flushing, stick to the three Ps

A campaign has been launched to ban all wet wipes that contain plastic. They fail to decompose and often combine with other waste to cause ‘fatbergs’ that end up blocking our sewers.

And some simply flow out into rivers and the sea, contributing to the destruction of wildlife.

Putney MP Fleur Anderson’s Bill to prohibit the manufacture and sale of wet wipes containing plastic had its first reading yesterday.

It is a campaign welcomed by Severn Trent, which is responsible for the sewers in our region.

Its sewer blockages boss Grant Mitchell said: “It’s really important people only flush the 'three Ps' – poo, paper and pee – down their toilets.

“We should all be aware that a lot of wet wipes, even the ones that are labelled as ‘flushable’, contain plastic, which means that they don’t break down in the sewers in the same way that toilet paper does.

“Certain brands have started to sell a new product, which is actually more of a moist toilet tissue – they don’t contain plastic and are safe to flush down the toilet, as they will break down in the sewer.

“These wipes carry the ‘Fine to Flush’ symbol on their packaging, which means they have been stringently tested by independent technical experts to ensure they’re safe to flush. We recommend that customers look out for these wipes, as they’re less likely to cause a blockage if they get flushed down the loo.

“Customers also need to think about what they tip down their kitchen sinks – fats, oils and grease might be liquid when you pour it down the sink but it soon cools down and hardens, blocking sewer pipes and potentially causing blockages that can lead to sewer flooding for you or for your neighbours.”

Ms Anderson said: “As a mother of four children, I completely understand the pressures that parents are under and the difficulties that can bring when trying to cut down on plastic and make the right choices for the environment.

“I know that parents want to do the right things and all I am saying is that we can make it easier on them and on everyone who relies on the use of wet wipes every day.

“Everyone should bin and not flush wet wipes, but either way they contain plastic which gets in the environment and kills wildlife. My Bill comes in the same week as world leaders are meeting for Cop26 and will show that the UK can take serious action and ban plastic from wet wipes made and sold in the UK.” According to Ms Anderson, 90 per cent of the 11 billion wet wipes that are used in the UK every year contain some form of plastic which, when broken down, turn into microplastics which can be ingested by wildlife and enter the food chain and water supply.

The MP added wet wipes are the cause of 93 per cent of blockages in UK sewers.

Ms Anderson said: “Just one sewage station in East London removes 30 tonnes of wet wipes every day.

“In 2019, 23,000 wet wipes were counted and removed from a single stretch of the Thames foreshore in just two hours.

“That is even more terrifying when you consider that our reliance on wet wipes is growing day by day. It isn’t just causing environmental damage and polluting our marine environments, it is also costing water companies around £100 million per year to clear 300,000 blockages.

“That is money that then ends up on our water bills each month.”

Ms Anderson is calling on manufacturers to switch to non-plastic alternatives and for UK retailers to be held to account for incorrectly labelling their products as ‘Fine to Flush’.

“There are so many different types of wet wipes for sale but the labelling is really confusing,” she said.

“It really isn’t easy to determine which wet wipes contain plastic and which are ‘fine to flush’.

“There will be thousands of people out there right now using wet wipes every day .

“They have no idea that they are using a single-use plastic and with no idea of the harm that it is doing to our water systems and our marine environments.”