Plea to avoid flushing wet wipes down the toilet

A water company is calling for customers to avoid flushing wet wipes down the toilet after estimating it removes 4,500 tonnes from its sewer network annually.

Southern Water said wipes were the biggest cause of blockages, causing "significant clean-up costs and lasting environmental damage".

The firm asked customers to bin wipes instead, including products labelled as "flushable".

The firm estimated it removed about 370 million wipes in Kent, 330 million in Sussex and 270 million in Hampshire each year.

An estimated 30 million wipes are removed annually from Isle of Wight sewers, the company's fat, oils, grease and unflushables team claims.

New rules banning plastic wipes, which don't disintegrate when flushed down the toilet, come into force for England in 2027.

Most wipes sold in the UK are now made of alternative materials but the government and water companies say they still cause blockages and should not be labelled as "flushable".

Wipe manufacturers argue their non-plastic "flushable" wipes have been thoroughly tested and comply with industry rules.

Matt Collins from Southern Water said that unlike toilet paper, wet wipes "don't break down quickly enough".

"Instead, they snag in pipes and combine with fats and debris to form fatbergs that block sewers and overwhelm the system," he said.

According to Collins, the ban on plastic wipes was "a really positive step" but "doesn't go far enough to reflect the scale of the problem".

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