In Oklahoma cities and towns one of the most frequent and potentially costly insurance claims is a sanitary sewer overflow (aka sewer back up). With the recent toilet paper shortage, many people have turned to purchasing and using “flushable wipes”. Please, don’t use these! Flushable wipes, though advertised as safe for sewer and septic systems, are not. They are not designed to be biodegradable, despite what the manufacturer puts on the label.

Items like flushable wipes, tampons, sanitary napkins, dental floss, diapers, cotton swabs, and bandages are not designed to be flushed down the toilet.

What can be flushed? Only three things: Poo, Pee, and Toilet Paper. These other items get caught up in fats, greases, oils, and debris in the sewer system and cause clogs known as “fatbergs”. This can cause a back up in your personal sewer line or in the municipality’s sewer lines. It can even make it all the way to the sewer treatment plant and destroy thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment.

Protect your property, the property of your neighbors, and your municipality’s property. Only flush the 3 Ps (poo, pee, and paper). If you use flushable wipes or other products not biodegradable put them in plastic bags and place them in your trash.

This message was provided by your local municipality and Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG). OMAG is the liability insurance provider for most cities and towns in Oklahoma (for more information regarding this release contact Bill Tackett, OMAG Chief Risk Officer/Director of Risk Management).

Dangers of Flushing Those “Flushable”

Wipes People are flushing wipes down toilets – and this is causing dangerous problems for both private citizens and municipalities’ sewer lines. The flushable wipes cause private sewer lines to back up at a cost to the homeowner, but if they make it into the municipal sewer system they can mix with greases and cause major sewer backups in the lines. If they make it into the wastewater plant they can damage system machinery.

Toilet paper is designed to disintegrate in pipes and sewage systems, but wipes are not. They’re typically made with synthetic materials, plastics or polyester, that won't break down. So even if they flush down the toilet, they end up clogging sewers. This poses hazardous risks to sewage professionals that must break these clogs up and the costs are considerable. Some cities have spent millions of dollars a year to address damages and clear pipes.

As wipes meet cooking fat in the sewage system, they build up into a monstrous obstacle, a “fatberg.” A fatberg is a huge mass of solid waste largely consisting of cooking fats, disposable wipes, tampons, and other sanitary items that get flushed down the toilet. They’re unhygienic, expensive to fix, and incredibly gross. Clogs and fatbergs make jobs that are already hazardous and very difficult even more so.

So, why are wipes advertised as “flushable”?

You can attempt to flush many things down a toilet (if you have a child, perhaps you've seen the random stuff someone may put down the drain...) but that doesn’t mean they’ll effectively move through the sewage system.

Companies can currently label wipes as “flushable” simply because they aren’t restricted from doing so. Companies aren't required to prove flushability before asserting this claim and it seems most would fail any such test. A study out of Canada tested 101 wipes on the market for flushability and not even one passed. This marketing technique is misleading, and we need provisions to keep companies from freely using it and sparking customer confusion.

While there have been policy attempts to curtail deceptive “flushable” labels (California is debating a bill that would require products to be clearly labeled.) these moves have been met by significant resistance from the industry.

Solutions to Keep the Pipes Clear

One of the last things we need during a serious global pandemic is clogged sewers overflowing into the streets. Utility departments urge citizens to stop flushing wipes and to only flush bodily waste and toilet paper. Wipes are also not recyclable, so they need to go to the trash bin.

To address this issue beyond our homes, we can urge our elected officials to hold companies making these wipes accountable for the costs to our municipal sewage systems. We can also contact companies by tagging them on social media and ask them to stop using “flushable” claims.

If you value the health of your community and your sewer system, please contact your local newspaper and have them pass on the information about flushable wipes clogging up our sewer lines or put a copy of this article in with your utility bill.

*Image used from: https://www.alphr.com/energy/1007087/londons-monster-fatberg-human-waste/