From personal hygiene through to cleaning products, you may have noticed an array of “flushable” wipes appearing on the supermarket shelves.

While these products are undeniably convenient, they cost the country a lot more than the 12-15c a sheet that the public pay.

Consumer New Zealand put 11 flushable wipe products through a series of tests and has found these “flushable” products don’t break down readily and could end up causing a plumbing headache. The influx of flushable wipes is also leading to costly problems at waste-water treatment plants.

As Consumer tests show, these so-call flushable wipes don’t break down like toilet paper… toilet paper will usually be broken down by the time it reaches the sewerage plant, while the wipes tend to be almost intact.
not-so-flushable
Consumer concludes it’s report with the following…

Don’t flush any wipes down the pipes. Our tests found even wipes claiming to be flushable did not disintegrate like toilet paper. In our view, manufacturers shouldn’t be claiming these products are “flushable” when they may not break down in real world conditions.

You can see the Consumer article here.