If you use any kind of wipes you need to read this..

[Smashtheglass18]

If you are a MNetter who still flushes anything except pee, poo and toilet paper down the toilet... "All wet wipes sold as "flushable" in the UK have so far failed the water industry's disintegration tests, the BBC has found.Wet wipes will flush - in that they will disappear down the U-bend of your toilet. The problem is what happens to them next."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46188354

They all get clogged with fat and grease and make a big wetwipe-giant-sticky-boulder in the sewers no?
I do buy them but throw direct in the bin - I wish I didn't need them but they are a livesaver for DC with issues wrt wiping, washing hands, not liking being sticky, itchy, hot and everything else in between, all sensory related. I take your point though.

OzzyMadBat serious question - would a flannel not do everything that a wipe does to yours and DC's satisfaction? I've often wondered why people buy wipes - I've always found a flannel fine and can be carried in a plastic bag and rinsed out in loos etc. It always seemed to me wipes were invented as a new way to sell people something they'd never needed.

Google Cheeky Wipes. I use them. Reusable, very soft.

Whenever this topic comes up on MN, I always post this, because it's funny and true:

We use disposable wipes for bums as we also use disposable nappies - I know it’s not environmentally great but adding the mess and hassle of reusables to my life might be the tipping point from coping to not coping right now. They go into landfill not the sewers but I appreciate, not ideal. For hands and faces we initially used flannels and now use little microfibre cloth wipes as they really don’t add any hassle, they just get washed with bibs.

I burn mine, along with other rubbish.

For some people the Andres wipes are vital. You can't really put them in the bin

Channel 4 did a programme called the Fatberg autopsy, where a bloke from Thames water did an experiment to show what happened if you flushed loo paper and different 'flushable' wipes

Most obvs weren't - but the Andrex washlets dissolved immediately like paper and the expert said these were definitely flushable as they were biodegradable and essentially no different to moist loo paper

So just flagging as it lost me an argument as I'd smugly said no flushable wipes were flushable. But it seems that particular brand were given the thumbs up by the expert from the water board (others he tested with polypropylene obvs very much weren't!)

sabbatical and a very fair question - he hates the texture of flannels, trust me I have several. I also use wipes to get his bum clean when needed and clean him on the spot pre-meltdown. Personally I don't like wipes myself but I do what I have to do to get through a day in the calmest way possible.

Oh my! So angry been using flushable wipes in the loop for small kids to wipe up. That'll have to stop. Or go in a nappy bag I suppose...

Programme here www.channel4.com/programmes/fatberg-autopsy-secrets-of-the-sewers

I bin them rather than flush.

I find them incredibly handy so while I know they're not brilliant environmentally, they make a big difference to my ability to stay on top of it all.

NannyOgg - why can’t you put wipes in the bin??? Of course you can!!

My dc uses wipes (ocd issues about being super clean) so we have a special toilet bin - for wipes and pads/tampons.

Yes OzzyMadBat and I completely agree with doing what you have to do to get through calm. If you have flannel rejection happening you need an alternative, obvs, poor DC.
This is the whole issue really isn't it, losing things that are screwing up the planet without making individual lives much harder, ESPECIALLY mothers (as far as I'm concerned)? All of which needs to be discussed calmly and without blame.
Thank you for answering.

It annoys me that things change like what is and isn't flushable yet there seems to only be a handful of people who know about it.

I remember years ago you (I was going to say could but I might be wrong.) You could flush pads, tampons applicators too.

Now even the stuff designed to be flushable isn't flushable no wonder people get confused

The Waitrose ones do disintegrate in water - I've tried it.

FIL is dreadful for this. He insists on Aldi "flushable" wipes and gets through a lot of them. He's just not interested in whether or not they cause problems in the sewer - not his problem, that's why he pays his water bills. There are a lot of people like that.

When I was a teenager, we used to flush pads down the loo-Mum had to get a workman out to lift our drain cover, as they were blocking the pipes.

Reading the thread - it looks like the Andrex washlets and the Waitrose moist tissue wipes do disintegrate - good to know - any others?

Bluelonerose i think what has changed is the definition of ‘flushable’. Now it doesn’t just mean ‘won’t block your toilet’ and had extended to ‘will break down and not block sewers’

I’m only 30 but I never remember tampon packaging saying you could flush, it was just what we were told by older women. Actually I only discovered you shouldn’t flush them very recently on mumsnet!

I remember years ago you (I was going to say could but I might be wrong.) You could flush pads, tampons applicators too.

They've always had to be fished out of the sewage though - pads and tampons haven't changed that much. I think we are just more aware of a lot of environmental issues now though.

Thank you for understanding sabb
I'm good with other things - not driven in ten years, recycle clothes and toys but wet wipes are our kryptonite. The Germans according to a colleague have Wetwipearsewiper as a insult though, for someone who's deemed delicate/a snowflake. (they also have a word for a man who sits down to pee, those Germans!)

Maybe we should start a list of the most eco friendly versions of things?
So for wet wipes it's the andrex or Waitrose ones. They actually are adjustable and won't cause problems down the line. (Links above)

I recently found this spray in Tesco. Use it on toilet tissue and it makes a flushable wipe
www.freshx.co.uk

I use cheeky wipes at home and occasionally water wipes when out. I put a water wipe through my nappy wash a few months ago and it came out of a 3 hour wash entirely intact. I despise wet wipes cold slimey things that are brilliant at smearing poop rather than wiping it off. Give me a cheeky wipe any day.