“Bin the wipe”

Wet wipes are everywhere these days. We use them in the kitchen and in the bathroom as well as when changing nappies and to remove makeup. What we often don’t realise is that they pose a threat to the environment, especially if we don’t dispose of them properly.

Many problems with drains begin in the home. Water UK, the charity that launched “Bin the wipe” campaign, says as many as 75% of drain blockages are caused by people flushing wet wipes down the toilet.

Flushed wipes will eventually gather in your pipes which will stop your toilet from flushing correctly, potentially resulting in sewage backing up into your home through your toilet.

These wipes don’t break down in the sewer, like toilet paper. Instead, they congeal with other “unflushables” and cause so called “fatbergs”– a rock-like mass of waste matter made up of a combination of flushed non-biodegradable solids, such as wet wipes, and fat, oil and grease deposits. Fatbergs are costly and time-consuming to remove, and cause blockages in our sewers.

Please remember, it is just as important to avoid disposing of nappies in toilets, and also fats, oils and grease down kitchen sinks. These too will, over time, cause damaging blockages.

If the blockage occurs on a section of pipe you are responsible for, it can leave you with an expensive mess to get fixed. But it doesn’t necessarily stop there.

In some blocks, we share plumbing stack pipes, and this means blocked drains can affect neighbouring homes and communal areas as well as the environment.

Please help us prevent any blockages by doing the right thing – Bin it, don’t flush it!