Single-use “flushable” wet wipes are causing 12,000 drain and sewer blockages in Yorkshire every year

By Olivia Russell
Yorkshire Water will appear on BBC One’s Watchdog tonight (September 26^th 2019) to spread the message about the damages wet wipes have to the environment.
Over 12,000 drain and sewer blockages are cause by wipes being discarded in the toilet, polluting water systems.
Nationally, wet wipes are behind 93% of blockages in U.K sewers.
Wet wipes harden, with added sewage waste such as fat, oil, grease, plastic wrappers and sanitary products, the accumulation of this material causes ‘fatbergs’ in sewers and wastewater treatment works. 
Yorkshire Water has revealed it spends £2.4m every 12 months clearing around 30,000 obstructions across the region.
Single-use plastics are incredibly damaging to the environment, ending up in watercourses and threatening marine wildlife.
Mark Hammond, Head of Customer Field Service at Yorkshire water said: “Wet wipes in our network is a huge issue for us”.
“We spend millions each year on clearing wipes, money which could be spent on improving our network or investing in innovation”.
Wipes do not break down properly because of plastic fibers in the material, coincidently affecting water works through their non-biodegradable qualities.
Mr Hammond added: “We were thrilled to invite Watchdog Live along so they can see the headaches they cause both us as a company, but more importantly our customers”.
There is a wet wipe for everything, make up wipes, surface disenfectant wipes, baby wipes, and it wont be long before there is a crackdown on the sales of wet wipes to reduce irreversable environmental impacts.