What's the problem with wet wipes?
Wet wipes on a North Devon beach
HAVE YOUR SAY
Consultation on the proposed ban of the manufacture, supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic.
We are joining other environmental organisations and calling for a ban - can you add your voice too?
Wet wipes do nothing that a cloth or tissue with water and a cleaning product couldn't do. And for generations, we have happily used reusable cloths to clean. And yet, in recent years, there has been a boom in the use of wet wipes. In the UK alone, we use 11 BILLION of them a year, often paying over the odds simply for the convenience of them. But it is not the cost that is the problem, it is the fact they are damaging our environment.
Although they are single-use items, they are made to last. And because one of the key components of most wet wipes is plastic, they will last for generations clogging up our landfill sites. But this is not the worst of it. Because wet wipes are often used in the bathroom, we have got into the habit of flushing them down the toilet rather than putting them in the bin. Companies, to encourage sales, assured us that wipes are flushable - but just because you can flush something, certainly does not mean that we should! Once in our sewerage system, they clump together blocking pipes. The problem is so vast that the majority of sewer pipe blockages are now caused by wet wipes bringing sewage misery, not to mention higher water bills, for households and businesses throughout the country.
This is not even the worst of it. When wet wipes reach the sea and rivers, they are accidentally ingested by marine wildlife, killing birds, dolphins, turtles and others. The wipes join the mounds of plastics and rubbish floating on our waters. They get washed up and litter our beaches. When they eventually begin to break down, the microplastics that remain are ingested by our smaller marine wildlife when eating the plankton that is the very foundation of our food chain.
Companies, such as Boots the Chemist, have already promised to end their sales of wet wipes. And the government, back in April of this year, pledged to bring in a ban with surveys reporting that 96% of the population supported this.
However, there have been objections raised by those who profit from sales of these products and from those who simply put the convenience of them above their terrible toll on the environment. The government now is perhaps stalling as, while we were hoping to see concrete plans for the ban by now, the government has instead launched a consultation about it.
Please play your part in ending the use of wet wipes and add your voice to the consultation. We were promised a ban and, for the sake of our environment, we need that ban.
Click here to find the consultation and share your opinions Join the consultation
Try to add
Why you think the plastic wet wipes are bad for our environment/ sewage infrastructure
Why you care about the health of our oceans, blue spaces
Any time you have been affected by sewage pollution, which may have been exacerbated by pipe blockages caused by plastic ‘Flushables’ such as wet wipes.
Any examples of when you have seen wet wipes in the environment .
Please don't delay - the consultation closes on 25th November.
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