Flushable wipes? Not so much

[dropcapMedium]Y[/dropcapMedium]ou may recall a post from 2013 in which we urged our customers not to flush so-called “flushable” personal wipes:

“The next time you pick up a package of “flushable” personal wipes, think twice: they’re not as flushable as their manufacturers imply.

 Truth be told, they’re clogging up wastewater treatment plants across the country —  including those operated by Lehigh County  Authority.”

 In a recent decision, the Federal Trade Commission backs up what LCA and other water authorities across the nation have been saying for a long  time.  Wet-wipe manufacturer Nice-Pak, which makes products for  Costco, CVS, and Target labels, settled with the FTC, agreeing “to stop  advertising moist toilet tissue as flushable unless it can substantiate that the product is safe to flush. Similarly, Nice-Pak agreed to not claim that its moist toilet tissue is safe for sewer and septic tanks unless it has substantiation for those claims,” an article from Water Online states.

For our 2013 post, an LCA employee told us about one incident in which a grinder pump that was less than a year old failed, and the manufacturer refused to repair it under warranty, because it had been jammed up by baby/personal wipes. The employee said “the amount of wipes that were untangled from the pump filled up two large garbage bags.”

Something else to keep in mind: the problem extends to any item that shouldn’t be flushed down a toilet: feminine products, paper towels, dental floss, condoms and more. In short, anything that doesn’t quickly disintegrate or biodegrade will cause pipes to clog and pumps to jam.

So please, stick to flushing only what your toilet was intended for, and dispose of other products — including wipes — properly.