Wipes are 84% plastic - doesn't tell you on the pack, why not?

[WomenUnited]

Because we are all trying to use less plastic and this is maddening. I know there are a lot of plastic use reduce conversations going on but this fact from War on Plastic with Hugh and Anita really stuck out for me, I had no idea.

This is such a big problem and why aren't companies reducing plastic use? Johnson and Johnson have just rejigged all of their packaging recently and to me the bottle caps they have introduced seem to use loads more plastic than the old style, and they are hard to open and can't be removed to top up with water or re use.

Why aren't legislators forcing honest labelling?

No more wipes in this house.

corona “On another note one of my bugbears at the moment is vagifem which has a large solid plastic applicator for every single pessary”

Sorry, I meant this is something I can understand!

Bluntly I think the issue is consumerism and I can’t see any government wanting to tackle that

Yes I agree with this, unfortunately.

mumandyou.com/shop/changing-product.html

These are 0% plastic wipes. More expensive then others though so many people won't use...

www.johnsonsbaby.co.uk/johnsons-cottontouch-extra-sensitive-baby-wipes

These are the wipes I have been using, wonder why I thought cotton was involved?

I really think the packaging is purposefully misleading and dishonest.

I think dettol has brought out biodegradable wipes

I just assumed they were made of the same stuff cheap clothes were made of, and people buy loads of those and chuck them out without a moments thought.

Wipes are such a false economy, I use ecloths with water, yes each one is about £5 but they last years and just need to go on a cool cycle in the washing machine.

I use flannels on my son, not wipes.

Why would people waste so much money when there is another convenient and easy option available?

I use the aqua wipes which are bio degradable . I discovered that water wipes are not hence I don't buy them anymore

Also not that a lot of the anti bacterial wipes aren't bio degradable either. Sainsbury's has toilet wipes which are dispersable and biodegradable. They are too perfumy but I prefer them to the other kind they do which are not biodegradable

I honestly didn't know about them being plastic or plastic in tea bags until a while ago.

Yorkshire tea say that they are planning to make their teabags plastic free by the end of the year.
www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/brew-news/our-use-of-plastic

The “renewable plant-based material” that Yorkshire tea are “replacing” plastic with is PLA. It is still a plastic. It is biodegradable in an industrial composter, but not in your compost heap at home. You can’t make tea bags on the existing factory lines and make them plastic-free. It’s not possible. Because they wouldn’t actually seal the tea inside. It’s the plastic that forms the seals.

@magicpaintbrush honestly I'm so shocked reading that. I thought you were going to say we use 120 million wipes a week as a country but you'd forgotten to put in the million... then realised you meant just in your house ..I'm horrified at your usage of wipes, I don't use any whatsoever and no-one has been sick in our house for literally years and years. Seriously, why oh why??

Honestly thought they were made from fabric/cotton?! Wtf

We use wipes (baby and cleaning) in the car... Both DDs get car sickness. Baby wipes to clean them up, cleaning wipes on car seats. Their aim for the sick bags is improving. Reusable cloths seem impractical because we often stop in random lay-bys etc with no toilets/water.

I am also surprised by wipes being plastic (I thought they were non-woven viscose type fabrics), but even more surprised by how many people are dependent on wipes for cleaning. I’m here feeling guilty about my microfibre cloths and considering knitting my own dishcloths out of linen yarn ...

Haven't read the entirety of the thread but in relation to wipes, can we please please please remember that biodegradable anything WILL NOT BIODEGRADE IF PLACED IN NORMAL BLACK BAGS FOR LANDFILL! Nothing biodegrades in black bags, nothing. Stuff has to be separated and composted and not all food waste/garden waste council collections accept or meet the same standards. Inaccurate advertising of the sustainability of packaging really bothers me because it preys on people's desire to do good but actively misleads them.

I dont use them because i was worried about people coming to my house and flushing them. My old house had a toilet that would block with just one and we got out of the habit, but I was still shocked that they were 84% plastic! Its outrageous and outrageous that we are the second highest user of wipes in the world.
Some hard of thinking people may deny climate change, but how can you deny the existence of huge fatbergs or mountains of rubbish and recycling that cant be processed when its right in front of your eyes? I really hope manufacturers and producers are made to pay 80% of the cost of recycling and disposal of these wipes.

I've bought a teacup with a sieve in it that I can put tea leaves in when I found out about the plastic in teabags. I still use teabags as I'd gotten out of the habit but Ill go back to it, I think.

For anyone interested, the Eden Project do compostable coffee pods for nespresso machine:
www.edenproject.com/shop/drink/coffee (Also available from Amazon)

I've switched back to a cafetière from my Dulce Gusto pod machine, they don't seem to do sealpods or compostable pods year but know I have a plastic machine to dispose of.

I recently found out that Boots opticians take contact lens cases and contact lenses for recycling so I've started doing this.

What do you use to take make up off with - wipes are a no, cotton wool is bad because of production methods, I can't use soap and water and a flannel seems really harsh on eyes?

What do you use to take make up off with - wipes are a no, cotton wool is bad because of production methods, I can't use soap and water and a flannel seems really harsh on eyes?

Cleansing oil or balm that rinses off (foams when you add water and just rinses off), or can be wiped off with damp flannel (flannel isn't hard on eyes if you don't rub like Aladdin's lamp).

Use a textured washing cloth and a little cleanser or oil. I just use olive oil.

As for wipes--best option is washable cloths and a wet bag. If you use the foldable type of cloth nappies, just the dry corner of a nappy plus a little water from the tap is usually enough. But a lot of the time you can just wash a baby's bum quickly in the sink. If you can see a baby is about to poop, whip the nappy off and hold them over the loo so that 9 times out of 10, they need only a little toilet paper. Always amazed that people don't do this! I did this with both of mine and it saved a LOT of mess, waste, hassle, screaming changing-table battles, and I did not have a big fight over poop training later on.

I use flannels on my face all of the time, including round my eyes and haven't found them harsh.

This is one for the general knowledge thread . What on earth do people think they are made from?

I’ve never used them, I use reusable wipes with my DC and cloths for cleaning.

I stopped using tumble dryer sheets a couple of years ago and tried wool tumble dryer balls instead, they are great and have saved me a fortune but I have to confess although I didn't think the sheets were very environmentally friendly I did not compute that they were plastic.

I am also going to invest in a cora ball to catch fibres. I replaced my washing machine last year and have found (to my horror) that it does not have a drainage filter at all!
coraball.com/