This is not a particularly savory topic, but the brave people who run modern sewer systems around the world face a growing menace: the “flushable” wet wipe.
Once used for babies, these all-too-handy replacements for plain old toilet paper are clogging pipes and sewerage systems from Australia to London to New York City. Many are advertised as flushable, but as Consumer Reports showed recently, they are anything but. In fact, some of these wipes failed to disintegrate in water after 10 minutes, compared to a few seconds for a piece of toilet tissue.
As the wipes have become big business, they have caused big problems. Sewage workers in London found last summer that wet wipes had mixed with food fats to create a 16-ton mass clogging their drainage system. British wags christened their obstruction the “fatberg.” It took about three weeks to bring the local loos back to normal.
The industry is working on wipes that really do disintegrate in water, some in about 15 seconds. But until these genuinely flushable wipes are readily available, wipe makers need to admit that the wipes on the market are not flushable and should not go down the toilet. The items that already have the word “flushable” on the package could be changed easily. Just add the letters “UN.”
In New York City, where the wastewater system now routinely struggles with wet-wipe superknots, officials are planning a public awareness campaign. And Mayor Bill de Blasio is backing a city council bill that would prohibit the sale of moist tissues if they are advertised as flushable. As Vincent Sapienza, a deputy commissioner for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, told the Times reporter Matt Flegenheimer, these wipes are “really indestructible.”
Numerous apartment building owners have spent plenty on plumbers to deal with residents who flush the wipes after use. And the city has spent more than $18 million of taxpayer funds in recent years trying to clear numerous wet-wipe globules out of the public works. I can think of a lot better ways to use $18 million.
So, here’s a basic rule: Indestructible stuff should not be flushed down the toilet. That includes such items as diapers, paper towels, cigarettes, love letters and, of course, wet wipes. One person’s convenience can’t inconvenience all the rest of us.