Flushing wipes, paper towels and similar products down toilets will clog sewers and cause backups and overflows at wastewater treatment facilities, creating an additional public health risk.
Throw Them in the Trash
The EPA advises dropping wipes into a trash can, just as you would with cleaning items, paper towels, and rags.
Not all moist toilet wipes are flushable. Always check the packaging to make sure they can be flushed down the toilet. Be sure they're 100% plastic-free and only made with plant-based fibers. Any amount of plastic in a wet wipe can cause clogs in septic systems.
Baby wipes can clog a toilet in days, depending on how often you flush them down. The more wipes you throw down the toilet at once, the more likely it is to cause a toilet clogged with wipes.
Yes, adults can use baby wipes instead of toilet paper. Many people find baby wipes to be more effective for cleaning after using the toilet because they are moistened and can provide a more thorough clean. However, there are a few considerations to keep in mind: Flushability: Not all baby wipes are flushable.
Be aware of wet wipes are marketed as flushable and septic-safe. Even though these wipes do eventually break down, they take a longer amount of time to do so compared to toilet paper. Since the breakdown of wet wipes isn't as rapid, clogged pipes and blockages occur more frequently.
Women (91%) are also somewhat more likely than men (81%) to say they always wipe with toilet paper after pooping. Wet wipes are always used after pooping by 14% of people, while just 7% use them whenever they pee.
Wipes Can Clump Together & Cause a Blockage
Fact: Even one wipe can cause a blockage. Wipes and other debris can clump together to create a large ball. This ball has the potential to become lodged somewhere in the pipes. Depending on the severity and location of the blockage, you may need a professional drain cleaning.
90% of wipes contain some form of plastic, which is one of the main reasons they don't disintegrate like toilet paper does. In 2017, a report by Water UK revealed wet wipes contribute to 93% of blockages in the UK.
Leaving a clogged toilet overnight may seem like a harmless way to put off an unpleasant task, but it can lead to more significant issues. The most obvious problem is that the clog might not magically disappear. Instead, it can worsen as the blockage hardens or settles deeper into the pipes.
Andrex® Hygiene Wipes, are made from 100% cellulose fibres and don't contain plastic. They have passed international INDA/EDANA Flushability Guidelines and can be flushed at home. We recommend flushing 1-2 wipes per flush. Are Andrex® Hygiene Wipes packaging recyclable?
No, flushable wipes are not safe for plumbing. In fact, one of the easiest ways to cause a clog or blockage in your pipes is by flushing “flushable wipes”. If you ask any plumber, they will tell you that flushable wipes are a nightmare on sewage and septic systems.
After more than four years of litigation, on March 14, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted final approval to a class action settlement whereby Kimberly-Clark agreed to pay up to $17.5 million in cash reimbursements to consumers who purchased recalled lots of Cottonelle wipes.
These act as nets and catch all kinds of waste including hair, food remains and paper. They don't go away on their own and can be extremely costly to remove from the sewer system. The only correct way of disposing of wet wipes once you have used them is to place them in a rubbish bin.
How can I be sure it is safe to flush Cottonelle® Flushable Wipes? The flushability of Kimberly-Clark® products is tested with plumbers and passes widely accepted flushability guidelines.
There are no chemicals or products that will reliably dissolve baby wipes in your toilet or septic tank. Many baby wipes are made from synthetic polymers chemically bonded together into a durable cloth that take a very long time to break down inside the sewer system naturally.
Flushable wipes are a convenient way to stay fresh and clean when regular toilet paper simply doesn't cut it. That convenience, though, can turn out to be a major hassle, as those very wipes that are marketed as flushable can be known to cause plumbing problems.
If you're still on the fence, conventional baby wipes can take up to 100 years to break down. Biodegradable wipes, on the other hand, fully break down in a matter of weeks.
In addition to potentially causing irritation, wet wipes can dry out the skin if they have alcohol, according to Dr. Brendan Camp, a board-certified dermatologist based in Manhattan. This is because they strip the skin of oils.
When we put flushable wet wipes vs toilet paper to the test, the results were clear: flushable wipes are superior to toilet paper in every way. From a hygiene perspective, they clean more efficiently and thoroughly; they're softer and gentler; and they flush down the toilet just as easily as toilet paper.
After a bowel movement, always wipe from front to back. This prevents the spread of bacteria that can cause UTIs and soil hands, increasing the risk of transmission of infections like hepatitis A and H. pylori. If the skin at your anus is irritated, try using wet wipes.
Only flush the 3 P's: pee, poo, and paper (toilet paper). Toilet paper is specifically designed to break down in the water. Although paper towels, napkins, and facial tissue appear to be the same material, but they do not disintegrate in water like toilet paper.