Posted on 09/23/2013 12:11:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents 300 wastewater agencies, says it has been hearing complaints about wipes from sewer systems big and small for about the past four years.
That roughly coincides with the ramped-up marketing of the “flushable cleansing cloths” as a cleaner, fresher option than dry toilet paper alone. A trade group says wipes are a $6 billion-a-year industry, with sales of consumer wipes increasing nearly 5 percent a year since 2007 and expected to grow at a rate of 6 percent annually for the next five years.
...
Manufacturers insist wipes labeled flushable aren’t the problem, pointing instead to baby and other cleaning wipes marked as nonflushable that are often being used by adults.
“My team regularly goes sewer diving” to analyze what’s causing problems, said Trina McCormick, a senior manager at Kimberly-Clark Corp., maker of Cottonelle. “We’ve seen the majority, 90 percent in fact, are items that are not supposed to be flushed, like paper towels, feminine products or baby wipes.”
(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...
Good idea, thanks.
DUh, you can’t flush those. They are very useful but not flush able.
You could also probably figure out a way to heighten the fill tube with some PVC pipe and epoxy or silicone.
It sounds funny! I understand about the typing. My fat thumbs and small smart phone screen size makes me look drunk most of the time.
Haha, that guy is full of $hizat! There is no freaking way that a human being (at least the ones that do it) can install one mile of SECTIONED pipe with a 1/8 inch drop and not have peaks and valleys in the installation where effluent parks, especially after backfill, settling, etc. WRT septic tanks, the septic tank guy I talked to said each flush should flow completely to the septic tank. I was surprised about that.
She did not realize it: the only reference to them being unflushable was a very small icon on the back of the package showing a person tossing the wipe into a toilet with a superimposed crossed circle over it. No words, just the (very tiny) picture.
Reminds me of going into the rest room after someone who happens to be an immigrant. Big dump, unflushed, in the toilet. No toilet paper used. Ewwwww.
Great prepper tip too. Thanks!
It has nothing to do with clogging the toilet or how much you are trying to flush. When you have to cut them off a snake with a sharp knife they are not biodegradable in the system. Low flow toilets exacerbate the problem because there is not enough water to carry them down long runs of drainage pipe and they do not break down on the way like toilet paper.
When they enter a septic tank, they do not break down and can clog the fields and damage the system.
Municipal systems can’t cope with them either because the grinder pumps at lift stations are not made to chop up the material they are made of and get jammed.
I’ve been on countless calls due to these wipes when there was never a problem before the use of them.
Absolutely. I made this point with a lib relative.
He had just bought a '50s-era ranch with a vintage bathroom.
"Nice bathroom! If you ever move, make sure you take that toilet with you."
"Why?"
"Well, you won't have to flush five times to do your business."
"Oh..." < squinty scowl>
Hey, you have to teach them any way you can.
“I had a plumber in to replace the dripping faucet shutoff valve and when he finished he dumped the wastebasket, full of paper towels we had used to wipe up the water, into the toilet.”
You need to find another plumber.
“Great prepper tip too. Thanks!”
The cheapest price is at Walmart, “Equate Flushable Wipes”, to compare to Cottonelle Fresh Care Flushable Moist Wipes.
You can store a huge amount in a small space. Get those, then don’t worry about having toilet paper if TSHTF.
“If they are strong enough to be wet and not tear, then they are NOT made for flushing, no matter what they say.”
You said it - the basic truth, and it is the truth regardless of the “new” toilets, how much water they flush in single flush or water pressure itself.
Our plumbing systems have survived toilet paper BECAUSE it breaks down easily; wipes do not.
Just leave some toilet paper sitting in a “clean” toilet bowel all by itself and in not too long a time it will start to break up without any “flushing action”. That’s not true for many wipes, before or after flushing. EVERYTHING that normally goes into a toilet will start to break up and break down before they do.
Are you positive that it didn’t say “Do not put anything in this toilet that was NOT eaten first!”
Well, like I said, I’ve never had a problem using them, and none of the ones I’ve seen are nearly as tough as you describe - hell most of them tear (if you’re not careful) while being pulled out of the dispenser , which is silicone gel. I think a lot of people are using wipes that are not by design flushable and not degradable in the system (those are much stronger). I’ve watched the Cottonelle brand dissolve in water.
Truthfully, wiping with toilet paper is neither efficient nor sanitary, compared to flushing the area with water, which removes far more feces, then just drying with a little TP.
Once you get used to flushing, it is pretty obvious that wiping with TP is just gross.
A simple, inexpensive means to do so is to use a suspended hot water bottle, rigged as an enema device, but not inserted, just washing the area. It really does a much better job.
Some toilets are now coming equipped with water nozzles under the rim, for that purpose.
What is this “toilet paper” of which you speak?
I know they say flushable, but that’s dumb. Whatever they say, it’s just not worth clogging the pipes and keeping RotoRooter in business.
If you’re going to go to all that trouble to get a clean butt, why not just install a bidet?
Logically, if they are made to wipe wet, they will not break down when flushed. Probably would fill up a septic with inert mass as well.
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