“Don’t believe the wipe” – to finally be banned in England

Responding to the news that plastic wet wipes are set to be ban planned in England, City to Sea,  an environmental charity that has been campaigning for years to get plastic removed from wet wipes, said that this delayed ban is welcome but years late. Their message for customers who are still confused by products advertising themselves to be “flushable” is to “don’t believe the wipe”.

City to Sea’s Policy Manager, Steve Hynd said,

“In 2021 the government consulted on banning wet wipes that contained plastics and in 2023, when they finally published these results, it showed that 96% supported the proposed ban. It’s disappointing that years after this consultation we’re still only hearing now an announcement for another consultation with for a proposed ban on plastic-filled wet wipes. The plastic crisis demands urgent action.”

He continued, “Plastic wet wipes cost hundreds of millions in sewage blockages each year and cause a catastrophic environmental problem, changing the shape of rivers and harming marine wildlife. While government drags its feet, supermarkets could and should take these from their shelves now. For customers our message is simple “don’t believe the wipe” – even if it says it is flushable you have to assume it is not safe to flush and that you should only ever flush the 3ps – pee, paper and poo.”

He finished by saying, “Wet wipes are just one example of “flushed plastic”. We know there are other plastic-filled items including floss and period products that are also flushed. Our research for example shows that 28% of people using tampons mainly flush used products down the toilet while 9% of those using period pads flush their products as the main form of disposal. While banning plastic-filled wet wipes is a good positive step forward, we need a legally binding and ambitious plan to reduce all plastics and more work on educating the public about not treating their toilets as bins.”