Flushable Wipes Should NEVER Be Flushed!

“Then,” you’re probably asking, “how can they can them flushable wipes in the first place?”

The simple answer would be: “That’s marketing for you!” But sarcasm isn’t much good for anything, certainly not getting to the bottom of things. So let’s delve a little deeper.

In the strict sense of the term, “flushable wipes” can, in fact, be flushed down a toilet. But that doesn’t mean they should be.

Look at this way. What if a package read “flushable crayons,” or “edible cigarettes,” or even “throw-away diamond”? Once again, you’re seeing fresh examples of things that while they might be true, are no less absurb than flushable wipes.

Here’s what MAKE flushable wipes so absurb: they don’t dissolve after being flushed. Which means they can clog up your toilet and, in sufficient quantities from throughout a municipal waste treatment district, can also clog up a sewer system and its equipment. In fact, in places like New York City, they already have and continue to do so.

Consider the following excerpt from a recent article in The New York Times:

“The city (New York) has spent more than $18 million in the past five years on wipe-related equipment problems, officials said. The volume of materials extracted from screening machines at the city’s wastewater treatment plants has more than doubled since 2008, an increase attributed largely to the wipes.”

Ladies and gentlemen of common sense and best intentions, take it from us, Your 1 Plumber: there is one product, and one product only currently designed to dissolve in water, and that’s toilet paper. And that’s the only thing in addition to natural waste that should be flushed down your toilet.

Want proof. If you don’t already have some, by all means go out and purchase a pack of flushable wipes – any brand will do. Then pour two small amounts of water on your kitchen or bathroom counter. Next, wipe up one with some toilet paper and the other with a flushable wipe. The toilet paper immediately starts to break apart, right? And the flushable wipe? We rest our case.

To help prevent your toilet drains and sewer main from clogging up, let alone your municipal waste treatment plant, dispose of flushable wipes the same you way you would of non-flushable wipes – in the trash, where they belong.