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Wet wipes: sewer blockages In this feature l definition l education l courts Flushing out the facts The trade body Water UK has called on trading standards officers to investigate whether wipes claiming to be flushable are mislabelled. louise parfitt reports T he water industry is calling for a complete ban on labelling wet wipes as flushable, and wants trading standards as the people on the front line of consumer issues to investigate this issue as matter of urgency. CTSI has received a letter from UK water companies calling on manufacturers of wet wipes to remove misleading labelling that says wipes are flushable. But for trading standards officers to decide whether there has been a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 comes down to the interpretation of the word flushable. And therein lies the problem. Clare Pillinger, of Anglian Water and chair of the British mirror committee feeding into the ISO technical specification, says: No products sold at the moment are flushable. Manufacturers came up with this definition [to market their products] and no-one else agrees. Melissa Dring, director of policy at CTSI, says this is a huge grey area for trading standards because manufacturers say they are following industry guidance, but the water industry says this guidance is not robust enough and only serves the manufacturers interests. Last month, at the British Retail Consortiums meeting with 17 major retailers in the UK, concerns were raised that flushable wipes were being sold with misleading labels. For primary authorities, which advise businesses that stock and sell these products, it is not clear what advice they can give to ensure compliance, until there is a court decision. Boots PLC has a primary authority partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council. When asked about action it would be taking over the labelling of its wet wipes and what support it would seek from its primary authority to ensure compliance, Boots was unable to provide a comment at this stage. Sarah Houlton, team manager for trading standards and community safety, says that while the issue has not been discussed under the partnership so far, if asked in a primary authority context, Nottinghamshire would have to research the matter carefully using the array of different reference sources we have available to us, including the trading standards knowledge hubs. Guidance from government and other relevant bodies would be very welcome, useful and relevant. Trading standards is being asked to investigate an issue that is adversely affecting consumers and the environment, according to CALLS FOR gOvERNMENT the trade body, Water UK. But, without specific ACTION legislation, is this something trading standards Baroness Jones of Whitchurch and Lord should be getting involved with anyway? Blencathra have both raised the issue of wet To flush, or not to flush? wipes with the government recently. Baroness Jones asked what action the government Its certainly an area that has received a great is taking with manufacturers to improve the deal of press coverage in recent weeks. From labelling of wet wipes to avoid them being the BBCs One Show to articles in newspapers flushed into the sewers and becoming a and weekend supplements, the debate over marine pollutant. the problems caused by putting wet wipes Lord Blencathra asked whether the government plans to: down the loo is a hot topic and one that many 1. Require the packaging for wet wipes feel strongly about, but the two big players containing plastic fibres to display a warning involved disagree about what if anything that the wipes must not be flushed down toilets needs to be done. 2. Carry out a public awareness campaign One thing is clear: the amount of money about the dangers wet wipes with plastic spent clearing blockages caused by wet particles pose to the environment, wildlife and wipes is astronomical. Water companies public health, and spend approximately 88m a year clearing an 3. List publicly all the brands that use plastic estimated 360,000 blockages and wet wipes particles in their wet wipes. are a key culprit. Matt Wheeldon, director He also asked whether the government plans to of assets and compliance for Wessex Water, consult the public on the case for banning all wet wipes that contain plastic fibres. explains: By far the biggest offenders are wet wipes, and we frequently hear from customers who have flushed them and have had their homes or gardens flooded as a result. So, is it the wrong type of wet wipe being flushed by consumers, or the wrong type of labelling by manufacturers? EDANA, the European body for firms producing non-woven fabrics, maintains that flushable wet wipes do disintegrate when disposed of in the toilet. Currently, manufacturers use Guidance Document 3 (GD3) guidelines to test if a wipe is flushable. According to manufacturers, this test proves a wipe can be flushed, but water industry experts dont agree. Some manufacturers claim their products meet flushability protocols, yet the reality is that they have made up these protocols themselves, says Wheeldon. Pillinger points out that the UK has a set of voluntary flushability guidelines (Water UK SNAP guidelines), but manufacturers are not using these because the water industry claims they are more stringent than the GD3 guidelines and not one commercially available flushablelabelled wipe would pass. Water UK has complained to CTSI that it is misleading to have wipes labelled as flushable still on the shelves, because wipes cause up to 60 per cent of blockages in the water system. A spokesperson from Water UK told TS Today: We want trading standards to collect information on the impact of flushing these wipes so we can put pressure on manufacturers to stop claiming wipes are flushable at least until a common standard is agreed. The term flushable is misleading: the product may disappear from the U-bend, but it is not fine for sewers. The trading standards officers TS Today contacted said they were aware of complaints from consumers about wet wipes, and that if the problems occur further down the pipe in the main sewers or treatment plants then it isnt clear whether claiming a wipe as flushable is a misleading claim. A spokesperson for EDANA said that independent research (not publicly available) carried out earlier this year in Berlin and New York found that between 98 and 100 per cent of products causing the blockages were not meant to be flushed. EDANA says labelling all wipes as nonflushable is not the answer; instead more needs to be done to educate the consumer uNFANTASTIC PLASTIC about which wipes are safe to flush. It believes The government has pledged a ban on that denying people a flushable product microbeads in certain products by 2017. altogether will only make the problem worse, Defra has approached CTSI to get its opinion because flushable products will be replaced on how this ban could best be enforced, and with those not designed to be flushed. A whether trading standards should be involved. spokesperson said that the message about Microbeads are the tiny pieces of plastic disposing of wipes in a responsible manner added to products such as toothpaste and should be seen by the consumer in multiple shower gels, and give items such as face ways: on their water bill, the labelling on scrubs their exfoliating qualities. Microbeads the pack, on social media and in the press are minute and are able to pass through our generally. water filter systems. Each year, billions of them end up in the seas and ultimately in the food chain adding yet more plastic to our oceans. Difficult to regulate The US and Canada recently announced a Houlton explains how uncertain this is from ban on microbeads, and proposals for a ban a trading standards point of view. Deciding in the EU are being developed, following calls whether there has been a breach of regulations from a number of EU states. would really come down to how the word Now the UK has promised action, with a flushable is interpreted. What would the consultation on how best to implement the ban average consumer understand by this? Would while, at the same, time gathering evidence of they realise that there could be environmental the extent of the harm from microbeads found damage or damage to their own drains on in other goods, such as cleaning products. their property? At the moment, it is unlikely to At the moment, trading standard officers are instrumental in enforcing regulations around meet the standard of proof needed for taking the sale of cosmetics to ensure consumer action (ie, beyond reasonable doubt) as there safety, brand assurance, and a level-playing are differing views. field for manufacturers. Officers do this partly Martin Fisher, trading standards through market surveillance, including test practitioner, fair trading team, at Cornwall purchasing and lab sampling. It would follow County Council, and fair trading lead officer that they could then test for the presence of for CTSI, agrees: There is a chance it could be microbeads, according to Melissa Dring, considered misleading under the regulations, director of policy at CTSI. but its unclear whether additional costs She urges caution, however, because borne by the utility companies are something although it is an important issue, trading that would currently at least alter the standards is already stretched. And, without proper funding, this is unlikely to be taken on transactional decision of the average wetby a dedicated authority, especially because wipe-buying consumer. consumers are unlikely to raise complaints If its not a big issue for consumers, then about the presence of microbeads. it becomes much more difficult to regulate, Fisher continues. Given the tools, financial provision and clear legislation, trading standards might well be the body to sort it out, but not alone. If legislation tackled the problem directly if it was clear that to be called flushable, a wipe must do X, Y and Z it would be much easier to take court action. Houlton stresses that this is a huge issue that needs furtherconsideration, but she says: With current pressures on tradingstandards services, this issue would be unlikely to be considereda priority, unless as part of the primary authority partnershiparrangement. Finding a way through Recently, manufacturers have agreed to reconsider labelling on the packaging for wet wipes that should not be flushed down the toilet. They have pledged to make this more prominent but it applies only to those wipes that are not deemed flushable. The water industry has welcomed this move, but stresses that all flushable wipes currently on sale should be marked do not flush until an agreed standard has been reached and agreed by both industries. Manufacturers would also have to prove the fibres in wipes when flushed do not cause harm to the receiving environment. Pillinger says: Our remit as wastewater operators is to stop pollution at source. By asking people only to flush the three ps (pee, poo and paper) we are preventing pollution at source, until a harmless truly flushable product is created. She says the water industry would like to get to a position where trading standards officers could remove all the offending flushable wipes from the shelves, but Houlton thinks we are a long way from that: Without specific labelling legislation, is the matter able to be dealt with by enforcement anyway? As things stand currently, it seems more of an environmental issue best dealt with by consumer education to change behaviours. Iftherewas new legislation, trading standards authorities could support this via business advice and publicity to educate the public. Any complaintsreceived would be weighed up against other competing priorities for our resources. Dring says: Ultimately, the decision on whether there is breach of consumer protection legislation rests with the courts. Watch this space. Credits Louise Parfitt is a writer for TS Today. Images: Incomible / SHUTTERSTOCK To share this page, in the toolbar click on You might also like Are wet wipes wrecking the worlds sewers?