Don’t be Fooled by “Flushable Wipes.” There’s Really No Such Thing

September 09, 2024

Flushable Wipes. While you’re pondering the very meaning of that phrase, here’s another one along the same lines: tamable lions. Lions are in fact, tamable, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe to have around. Just as flushable wipes are not meant to be flushed down your toilet, despite misleading packaging information to the contrary. And why aren’t they meant to be flushed down toilets? Because they don’t dissolve.

Consider the following from the May 2015 issue of Chemical & Engineering News:

“Once reserved for babies’ bottoms and toddlers’ fingers, wet wipes have found a market with consumers bent on keeping their backsides feeling fresh. But the premoistened personal wipes, now ubiquitous alongside toilet tissue in the supermarket aisle, are causing problems for wastewater plant managers. They bemoan wipes’ incompatibility with sewage treatment technology and the millions of ratepayer dollars they’re forced to spend each year to pluck gobs of wipes out of their systems.”

And then there’s this from The New York Times:

“In New York, city officials are tackling the problem in various ways. A City Council bill, which has the backing of the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, was introduced last month to prohibit advertising certain moist wipes as flushable. The environmental department has begun work on a public awareness campaign concerning the importance of proper wipe disposal: throwing them in the trash.”

Folks, until someone comes up with a better idea, there’s only one product that was designed to be flushed down and dissolved in a toilet, and that’s toilet paper. So yes, by all means use all the wet and flushable wipes you like, just dispose of them in your trash. Otherwise, you could be calling us sooner than later to come and unclog your toilet.