Environmental campaigners across the Fylde coast are calling for a change of rules on the way that wet wipes are advertised across the UK.



Members of the region’s Fylde Peninsula Water Management Partnership are today appealing to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) asking for them to outlaw the word ‘flushable’ from wet wipes advertisements.

In a letter written by Cllr Fred Jackson on behalf of all partners, he has asked the advertising body to make it illegal for firms to use the misleading term ‘flushable’ in all adverts, promotions and on packaging.

The letter also lends its support to an original campaign from Wessex Water to stop all wet wipes being labelled as ‘flushable’.

Despite advertising claims, cleaning, baby and make up wipes are some of the main culprits of blocked drains in the North West, with United Utilities having to clear around 25,000 blockages every year at a cost of £10m – money which could be used to reduce customers’ water bills.

One in ten people in the North West has also suffered from a blocked private drain in the past leaving customers forced to pay out an average of £99 each time for a plumber to repair them.

At the same time, blockages in the public sewers can cause serious knock on problems for the area’s bathing water quality. Blockages can cause sewers to back up and spill over into watercourses or onto our beaches and into the sea.

Volunteers who regularly clean Fylde coast beaches with LOVEmyBEACH often find wet wipes washed up on beaches from when pipes spill into the sea. Not only is this unpleasant and polluting, but potentially harmful to wildlife as even the ‘flushable’ wipes don’t break down like toilet paper.

There is currently no legislation to enforce which products can or cannot be labelled ‘flushable’. There are industry guidelines, but these are written by the industry that manufactures and sells the products rather than the industry that has to deal with the problems they cause.

The Fylde Peninsula Water Management Partnership will be asking the ASA to outlaw the term flushable on all wet wipes until more appropriate guidelines and legislation can be developed.

Cllr Fred Jackson, Cabinet Member responsible for bathing waters at Blackpool Council, said: “The term flushable is completely misleading and just because something goes down the toilet does not mean that it doesn’t cause problems in the sewers.

“People should remember that only the three Ps should go down the toilet – pee, poo and paper.”

Tony Griffiths, Wastewater Strategy Manager at United Utilities, said: “Our engineers see first-hand the misery these products can cause after a blocked sewer floods inside someone’s home. It’s no wonder householders feel confused and betrayed when the packaging on some of these products is so misleading.”

Emma Whitlock, Fylde LOVEmyBEACH coordinator said: “It’s amazing how many wet wipes we find washed up when doing beach cleans with volunteers across the Fylde coast. They’re often tangled up with seaweed and not broken down at all, so please, think before you flush.”

To find out more about what should and shouldn’t go down the toilet, as well as ways that you can help improve bathing waters on the Fylde coast, visit www.lovemybeach.org