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WET WIPES HAVE become extremely popular in Irish households in recent years, with many companies offering different types.
But an experiment by a Cork student might make some people think again about their impact on the sewerage system.
Kian Hennessy of Coláiste Choilm brought his project on wet wipes – which he calls ‘an environmental menace’ – to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition this week.
The wipes tested were from brands that said the items were flushable.
He explained why he has such a strong opinion on the items:
In order to test the wipes, he incubated them in water, and this is what he found:
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Hi I am Kian Hennessy (the student) and I believe I did not explain this as well as I did to normal people who came to see my project as I was a bit nervous when I was being interviewed but basically I will try and explain here correctly. So wet wipes cause 2 major problems, the first one is that sewage pumps now days, their job is to basically tear and shred the object and they can do this quite easily with toilet paper but the problem about wet wipes is that they contain plastic and Cotten inside of them which gives them a very high tensile strength (which basically means there are very hard to tear). The second problem they cause is; when fat for example goes down your kitchen sink it eventually ends up in the sewage systems and what this fat does is, it combines and compresses together to form these solid solidified lumps called fatbergs and these fatbergs are extremely strong and can only be manually clears out. What I did for my experiment was I tested many different kinda of wet wipes including baby wipes, flushable wipes and regular wipes and I used toilet paper as a comparison including quilted brands, what I did was I filled each jar with 1.4 litres of water and shook each of them 4 times a day for 30 seconds vigorously to replicate a flush and what I found was that the toilet paper disintegrated immediately whereas the wet wipes remain intact after 17 months
Well Kian, that is very interesting. You obviously went to a lot of work for this. I’ll never flush wipes again. I also didn’t know that there was plastic in them, so I probably won’t buy them again!
I saw a documentary on fat bergs recently – disgusting.
It’s research like this that really makes people think and change their behaviours. Well done!
Hi Kian, fair play to you for all the work you’ve put into this! I only recently learnt what a fatberg is and I was disgusted! What’s your opinion on those toilet roll tubes that read ‘flush me, I dissolve in water’? They always seem to dissolve… But are they really as safe as they claim?
Hi Kian. Good stuff. I posted above too.
A point I wanted to bring up is do you think the manufacturers use the term ‘flushable’ instead of biodegradable so as to purposely fool people]?
Hi, I really haven’t done any research into this matter but I guess if it is just made of cardboard it shouldn’t be a problem and since it’s cardboard it really wouldn’t absorb much fat but the only real problem I could see about this matter is that the sewage pumps might find it hard to tear them up but you can never really trust what they say on packages these days, as even on all wet wipes packages they say flushable and biodegradable which they really aren’t
Well first of all they use both terms,
Flushable and biodegradable and secondly when you label something as flushable it can’t be something that will talk far too long to decompose, it has to be realistic you know? When you’re saying that something is flushable it has to be something that won’t cause any problems and will go through the systems very easily and quickly
You may well be on the verge of changing that then :)
Who would you have to contact to make a complaint about that. It is I suppose false advertising, but also environmental. If I were you, I’d look at lodging a formal complaint and ruffle some feathers.
Either way, a most worthy worthwhile endeavour. Whatever gave you the idea? Younger siblings?
Thanks a million for the comprehensive comment Kian!
Well done! A great experiment and thank you for your hard work. Keep it up- you’re going to achieve much!
Well done on your project, you did Cork proud. Im potty training my little one at the moment and was going to get those kiddie wet wipes, Won’t be doing that now.
I don’t really think they’d do anything if I bothered contacting them, they would just ignore me as I’m highlighting a problem about their product that makes them huge amounts of money. Actually I got the idea from when a friends sewage system was blocked and I asked their builder what the cause of the problem was and he actually tole me that it was due to wet wipes and it was a growing problem
Awfull handy to wipe the flute afterwards
Leaves it spotless and ready for use again
That’s what my missus does before she gives it a tune
We know.
Do you clean many flutes the ?lol
Never flush wipes of any sort down the toilet…always bin them – they never break down. I don’t care how bad binning them is for the environment but it’s better than clogging up the sewer..
Are they not made of cotton?
They are a nuisance in Hotels. Folk please bin them!
Never !
And jonnies are ok?
God stuff lad. Also, a new trend taking hold is reusable nappies. The manufacturer in our case claimed that those inserts are biodegradable and safe to flush down the toilet. They look like wipes, possibly dried out wipes, and after a few months of flushing them down the toilet our system got blocked up. Had to get it unblocked at a cost of e180. They had not broken down as they were supposed to and clogged up the system.
Do you mean the liners? Better off using fleece liners if you use any, most cloth nappies don’t really need any liners anyway.
Thanks for the tip.
There used to be reusable nappies that weren’t flushed. Just cotton that was washed and reused. Much more environmentally friendly.
The nappies I’m talking about aren’t flushed either. But you do put an ‘insert’ paper towel (supposedly) into them. It’s that apparent paper towel that’s supposed to be biodegradable. It isn’t. The actual nappy itself goes into the washing machine.
They are as you say far more environmentally friendly, but also way way cheaper, and more comfortable for the baby too. But they do require more work. That work includes taking out the ‘paper’ insert and flushing it down the jacks. Big mistake as I found out the hard way.
As an addendum for any prospective parents – the nappies cost us e180 in total. She’s 18 months now and still using the same ones. Look into it if you want to save yourselves a few quid.
Baby wipes are great for cleaning the oven.
Is “oven” code for anything???
Its red hot and easy to turn on. You do have to clean it every few months though
Make sure you tie a knot in your used jonnies !!
I seen this exhibit and had a great giggle with my kids. Just as we left the house, my husband was rodding the sewers giving out that that he is sick telling us to stop flushing wipes down the toilet. Ooooops
Rodding the sewers……
I hope he’s on equal pay Carina, sorry, I meant I hope you’re splitting the housework 50/50 too. After all. It’s equally your shit he’s funelling.
funnelling.
Is there a chapter in the feminists handbook about that? If not, there should be. It would be at home amongst the rest of the theoretical shit that is feminism :)
On holidays in Peru 5 years ago, the sewage system was so poor that not even toilet paper was allowed to be flushed down toilet, just put in bin. Stench was awful. Coloured toilet paper was all the rage in this country about 10 years ago but that soon changed as coloured paper does not disintegrate as fast as white toilet paper does.
Same in Mexico
Same in Russia. Just learn to fold the paper and empty the bin often and you’re grand. Probably not as grand in a hot climate though.
I lived with a bunch of koreans who wouldn’t flush their toilet paper…just popped it in the bin beside the toilet. ..unfortunately they wouldn’t fold it neatly. ..gross to see when your sitting on the loo!
This is why you install a bidet.
That’s why most say “do not dispose in toilet”. You can get flushable ones for finishing off and that clean feel:)
“The wipes tested were ones which the brand said were flushable”
Really? I didn’t see/hear that little nugget. Too busy watching telly.
People still flush all sorts of stuff (apart from sh1t) down the loo.
Hi Bernard – I realised that wasn’t clear in the piece and added it in above (it was in the interview I did with the student but edited out of the video). He showed me the packaging and the brands said they were flushable. That’s why he tested them.
Thanks
Aoife
Edited out the crucial piece of information? well done!
Hi Aoife, no worries.
Yep, knew that since the swine flu outbreak.
Some one should have told that kid, it would have saved him a lot of time he could have spent on something we didn’t know.
Been using tesco wipes for 10+ years. Never a bother. Never.
I used this recipe for homemade wipes ,instead of using cotton squares(manly to clean) I used thick loo roll and I’d spray the mix on and wipe,totally flush able and better that the wipes.
**Manky to clean***
Bad morning distracted. Here’s the link: http://www.bellybelly.com.au/baby/baby-wipes-natural-alternatives-best-for-baby#.UtPFJmtYCSM
I put wipes in my compost and eighteen months later all the vegetable matter had composted but the wipes were still intact! I gave up using them.
The person flushing them down the toilet for ten years without a problem might enquire from her neighbours further down the system whether they have had problems!
They want to sue the manufacturers or make them say the wipes are not flushable but both of those approaches will not solve the problem = people will still be flushing them. They need to outlaw flushing them and fine those that do. By now people know they cause clogs but as usual with most they don’t care because it would be inconvenient to stop since they are better than Toilet Paper. A far better solution is to switch to a Hand Bidet Sprayer and wash with water. Cleaner, healthier, saves money and no more clogs! See bathroomsprayers.com.
Another problem with wet wipes in addition to the expensive clogging problems they are causing in the sewers. A better approach is a Hand Bidet Sprayer, cleaning with sprayed water eliminates the need for toilet paper, wet wipes and will save you and local governments allot of money. See http://www.bathroomsprayers.com.
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