I still have questions.
this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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Yeah why is there a 180 ton pile of wipes in the first place ๐
"Flushable" wipes tend to not break down if they are made from plastic, which many are. Treatment facilities vary, and methods of disposal too. But I could see this happening at two steps:
One, people flush wipes, and during a rainstorm, the combined rainwater and sewage in combined systems overflows faster that the facility can treat the blackwater, dumping raw sewage and wipes into local rivers, lakes and oceans.
Or two, some treatment facilities have bioprocessors, but have no rag catcher, which would intercept items that were not poop or PFAS-engineered products like toilet paper, which are chemically treated to break down in water.
If there's no rag catcher, it's not gonna get intercepted by the treatment plant, and just get dumped whole into the waterways. Akin to swallowing a piece of gum, then pooping it out later, lol.
Anyways, wipes (and even toilet paper) are horrible for the environment and tend to cost you extra money in terms of sewer infrastructure. Getting a bidet lowers your own expenses, and reduces the load on the sewer system.
I read it twice. They never say.
Since 2017!
Are they still dumping sewage in the Thames?
They've recently completed a very large sewer that should stop the majority of untreated sewage going into the Thames.
Does a bear shit in the wood, guv? Do pints drink themselves? I fink not.
Wet wipes aren't made from paper or cellulose or at least contain plastic that does not readily degrade.
Even so, I had no idea they were such a big thing, anywhere. For all I know it could just as well be diaper island.
There are flushable wipes made from cellulose. The problem is with the large variety of wipes out there. There needs to be standardization and laws.
"Flushable" typically just means your toilet is physically able to flush it down. There are no such thing as sewer friendly wipes
When tested, there are big differences. None perform quite as well as normal toilet paper, but some perform closely. Cottonelle was the top rated in that test and broke down quite similarly to regular toilet paper. There are many brands of 100% cellulose biodegradable flushable wipes.
If there were standards, testing, labeling, and laws regarding this, it wouldn't be an issue.
depends. some are made from cotton and/or cellulose, eg. cotonelle. still, the ones ending up on that pile probably contain plastic.
every time I hear about this river, all I can hear is Graham Chapman saying "Well, we can burn her, bury her, or dump her (in the Thames)"