AIBU to start a campaign to ban wipes?

[annandale]

Wipes are an environmental disaster, a key component of fatbergs and sold as a flushable essential when they should be treated like morphine - controlled except for specific medical needs. Anyone with me?

[ArcheryAnnie]

emmcan it's not an either/or. It's possible to both try to hold big corporations and governments to account through campaigning, and not to behave like a bloody environmental vandal in your own home.

[FiveBoys]

Op, none of mine were even introduce to a potty till they were 27 to 30 months old but they did seem to be clean and dry and fortnight later without much angst.

[intergalacticbrexitdisco]

We have a basket of Cheeky Wipes upstairs and downstairs. They go into the nappy bin when used and it's brilliant - you have to have lots but mine have so far done a year and still going.

[Sara107]

I don't know why people would flush wipes, but the wet toilet tissue is sold as flushable and it is basically the same thing as wipes only in smaller pieces. A campaign to get that banned or binned would be good - companies like Andrex need to be put under pressure. I've never used wipes much before but I have to confess they are the only way I can cope with my elderly cat who vomits and poos all over the place with depressing regularity.

[TattyCat]

What's wrong with using something you can chuck in the washing machine? Washing machines are hardly a chore when compared to the twin tubs of old, and yet everyone wants the 'convenience' of something that will take years to rot away in landfill. Why?

[kali110]

Lol nope sorry op. Only thing i use to take my makeup off.
Now using charcoal wipes.
Heaven.

[Slimthistime]

OP I don't even have kids and I wouldn't support a ban on wipes either
Invaluable if you're in hospital, even just to freshen up between showers and feel,less gross
Much needed in an office during heatwaves or just because you're going out for the evening after work
Yes I suppose I could take a cotton cloth and wet, it have a quick wipe down etc but where would I dry the damn thing, am I supposed to keep it in a handbag
I don't have children, or a car and I have been on a plane about five times and probably never will do again
I'm allowed wipes! I don't flush them btw.

[PeaceAndLove1]

Before wipes, I can imagine my mum used a flannel for cleaning botties, then swilled it out, same instead of kitchen paper towels, general cloth and floor cloth.

[LilQueenie]

kind of with you on it.Why can't they make them biodegradable.

[Voice0fReason]

I didn't use vast numbers of wipes but I wouldn't give them up. I never flushed them. I always used water at home but out and about, wipes were so much easier.
There are so many other things that cause environmental problems, wipes are a relatively small problem if we could educate people to not flush them.

[permatiredmum]

You realise that elderly people need to be cleaned up with wipes too? It is ok in a family where there is only one person requiring wipes at a time but what would you do in a care home where there are 50 [people using them? share?

[permatiredmum]

and there is the environmental cost of boil washing and drying them

[RaeCJ82]

OP, you sound just like one of my friends who works for United Utilities. Whenever I see him he (only half jokingly) berates me for using flushable toilet wipes.

Oh and YABVU. Leave the wipes alone.

[mirime]

DS used to do massive poos. Huge. No nappy could contain it, it would be everywhere.

At home I could stick him in the bath and shower him off. If out and about a flannel was not going to do the job.

Never flushed them though.

[annandale]

Permitted - I guess I would have more cloths? And the environmental cost would be less per person because you'd be doing one big hot wash for 50 people. I do know that the impact of white cloths being boil washed is significant though, it's just not as bad as single use wipes.

[Spikeyball]

I'm not messing about with pads and water when I'm changing my 11 year old. It can be a difficult enough job as it is.

[RandomMess]

I only used wipes on the DC for changing for the first clean up of poo, always had to resort to cotton wool or wipes with water due to their skin. I do think when you use washable nappies it changes your attitude to disposable things and chemicals.

They have their time and usefulness but most of the time there are more environmentally appropriate alternatives.

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

I'm surprised that people insist they absolutely need wipes because it's easier for the moment and cannot see the long term damage wipes are doing.

[Luncharmstrong]

I love wipes. I use them for all sorts

[gillybeanz]

We ever had wipes for our kids, I found them too expensive.
Just some cut up dishcloths and flannels wrapped in those smelly nappy sacks were fine.

[Lilyhatesjaz]

I think that if every parent used baby wipes on their own bottoms for a while and realised how horrible and stingy they are a lot less would get used on babies.

[OwlinaTree]

I use cheeky wipes for baby bums and flannels for fingers and faces at home, but I carry wipes when out and about.

Cheeky wipes are much better for bums than normal wipes.

[ArcheryAnnie]

am I supposed to keep it in a handbag

slimthistime flannel in a ziploc bag. Works wonders, takes up practically no space, can be used again and again, doesn't leave you with that horrible feeling of being coated in baby lotion like some wipes can do. Nicer, cheaper, less wasteful.