UK Pledges To Ban All Single-Use Plastics, Including Wet Wipes
In a continuing effort to reduce plastic waste, the United Kingdom has pledged to ban all single-use plastics, which includes wet wipes, plastic straws, drink stirrers, and cotton buds with plastic stems. Although there are many flushable versions of wet wipes, even the ones that are marked as flushable contain non-biodegradable materials such as polypropylene and polyester. The UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had this to say:
“As part of our 25-year environment plan we have pledged to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste, and that includes single-use products that include plastic such as wet wipes”
Parents around the UK are going to be saddened by this news, as wet wipes are essential in cleaning you baby. Unfortunately, many people flush wet wipes down the toilet, and as they aren’t biodegradable, they clump with sewage and cause blockages. Just last year in east London, a blockage caused by the congealment of wet wipes, cooking grease, and other items, clumped together to create a mass that weighed more than 130 tonnes.
Greater London’s water utility company Thames Water says that it spends approximately £1 million each month clearing blockages that are caused by wet wipes, diapers, cotton buds, fat, condoms, and other sanitary products. The water utility company said “That’s an average of 3 fat related blockages and 4.8 blockages caused by items like wet wipes every hour.”
