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

I have no experience with the waitrose ones - but the industry expert lady on the TV this morning definitely said that none of the wipes currently on the market was up to scratch.

I appreciate wipes are widely used by parents but I have somehow managed to bring up 2 children without using any wipes. They gave my dcs' bottom a rash anyway. Nothing like toilet paper and water to get a clean baby bottom, all of which flushes down the toilet nicely.

@PiperPublickOccurrences interesting - worth watching the channel 4 documentary as an expert from Thames water performed the test they use in the lab to identify whether a wipe is genuinely flushable or not - and showed there was no difference at all between how the Andrex wipe and plain loo paper broke up. Very different to the other wipes with polypropylene. Not saying she's wrong, just that the expert on the programme demonstrates otherwise

Not a mum but I need some kind of wet wipe for my bottom as I get piles and a bad tummy (the bad tummy makes the piles worse), have a very 'untidy' bottom area so it's hard to get clean, and scraping away at it with dry paper does it no good at all.

I don't really want pooey flannels in the bathroom or my handbag.

I like the idea of that spray though, I'm going to get that and I'm going to put some in my sister's Christmas stocking as she is an environmental bore but uses wet wipes (she doesn't flush them though as she has a septic tank).

I think it's easy using resuable cloths etc at home. The problem is surely when you're out and about with messy, sticky, pooey kids?
I'm really not going to start carrying around plastic ziploc bags with damp cloths. The poo-smeared ones would be particularly lovely in my handbag on a day out, don't you think?
The industry should be forced to make proper flushable wipes. They can be more expensive, which would encourage people to use them only when necessary. But it's hugely naive to expect everyone to just do the right thing.

When my babies were small and when I fostered newborns I always used baby lotion and cotton wool to clean them up, (seems kinder on the skin) then burned the cotton wool or binned it...Used towelling squares as well. Wet wipes seem wasteful, as you rarely use just one.

Similar issues here. ☹️ I have a gentle baby lotion by the loo and put some on the loo paper.

I use disposable ones but I buy them from Waitrose or directly from the company. Don’t like any other type available.

"The industry should be forced to make proper flushable wipes."

The only way something is properly flushable is if it breaks down in water--if it does that, it will disintegrate in the packet or in your hand. There is probably no way to square this circle.

You don't put a pooey wipe straight into your handbag. You use a wet bag that shuts tight and keeps in odor/mess, and you keep that in your diaper bag, which should also zip up tight. People absolutely coped before these things were invented, seriously.

Why does anybody need wipes for their bum? Unless they are a baby?!
I’ve stipped using antibacterial wipes for the kitchen etc as they are so bad for the environment. I use antibacterial spray now and a regular cloth

Are reusable wipes as thin as disposable ones? I always think a flannel is so bulky and scratchy, whereas a wipe is much softer and more comfortable to use.

I also find dealing with little pots of water to be an enormous faff and they invariably get tipped over and spilled everywhere. I used to dunk disposable wipes into warm water for my first when he pooed but he only pooed once every few days whereas DS2 poos constantly - I couldn't keep up!

I also think if I kept wipes around in little plastic bags they would go mouldy - do they?

I should add my attention/memory/tidiness is crap even when I don't have a little baby/toddler to look after...

You’re really so ignorant @Oly5? Wow.

@BertieBotts the only ones of mine that have ever gone mouldy were the ones I left as DS1's nursery over the two week Christmas break and they were used ones. I usually keep mine dry though and so they just go straight in the bag with the nappies. I have a spray bottle of water to wet them, although I usually just use my drinking water bottle and then they go in a wet bag with the nappies as we use cloth nappies and that gets unzipped and goes straight in the wash with the nappies. Most of the playgroups we go to don't have a nappy bin and ask you to take nappies home anyway so I guess most of us are doing the same whether we are using washable or disposable nappies in that case.

We all coped without lots of modern conveniences before they were invented but how many people fancy going back to not having a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner for example? Very few families had two people working full time outside the home with a child or children in nappies before things like disposable wipes were around.
I’m not advocating flushing them and I agree they aren’t great to go into landfill but I think it’s unreasonable to be so harsh on people who use something that’s available to make a busy life easier.

@BertieBotts

I use a chamomile spray but water in a spray bottle would be just fine too. So you are not carrying a bag of wipes that have been wettened in advance but you just spray them as needed.
In terms of out and about, I have a bag that came with my reusable nappies when I bought them. You just throw the dirty nappy and any dirty wipe(s) into it and it zips closed. Then when you come home they go into the nappy bucket to be washed whenever you next wash the nappies. The bag can be washed too if you need to.
The wipes themselves travel in a box (kind of like a sandwich box I suppose). Texture-wise they are a kind of halfway house between flannels and wipes. They are quite soft really. The ones I have have one side that is softer than the other. You could always use muslins if you prefer. It's the same principle.

Why does anybody need wipes for their bum? Unless they are a baby?!
^this apart from the baby part

When I was brought up there was no such thing and we just wiped our bums with loo paper. When DC were young wipes were around, nobody ever suggested that they were flushable so we either didn't use them or bagged and binned. This craze for flushables is crazy and completely driven by the manufacturers' marketing. None of us need our bums to be as fresh as a unicorn or whatever gobshite nonsense is on the latest advert. I appreciate that for a tiny minority of people with particular needs they make a difference, but the vast majority of us don't need them and are being conned by the manufacturers.

BTW, the Andrex wipes in the TV programme were not disintegrating as fast as the loo roll sample - the guy said they were nearly as good but that was only for one wipe on its own - a clump may not act the same way. Also I understand that they contain 2% synthetic fibres which will not be decomposing so are adding to the plastic soup in our water.

We have an incontinent teenager who is not cooperative when being changed so it needs to be as quickly as possible) so use lots of wipes but they always get disposed of with the pads rather than flushing.

@Tippexy The industry standard test is slightly different. Once in the sewer, there is the presence of other things and less water than one may think, the wet wipe will often not be fully immersed/surrounded in water for some time and they often combine with other wipes/fat/poo before they get the opportunity to breakdown fully. Basically, anything that goes down the loo, needs to disintegrate as quick as loo roll.

Why does anybody need wipes for their bum?
Some people do though.

But they are not just for your bum.
I use make-up removal wipes.
I use anti-bac wipes on my kitchen sides etc...
Also, very rarely use, wipes for dusting!

The only way something is properly flushable is if it breaks down in water--if it does that, it will disintegrate in the packet or in your hand. There is probably no way to square this circle.

Loo paper is flushable but doesn't disintegrate in your hand

The Andrex wipes are essential slightly moist but stronger loo paper. The c4 programme I mention above shows on screen the expert from thames water demonstrating how loo paper breaks up, how the Andrex wipes break up, and how 'flushable' wipes with polypropylene break up

The Andrex moist wipes disintegrated in the same way as the standard loo paper did

Neither disintegrates until flushing.

The Andrex say on the packets not to flush more than 2, so a single wipe is less likely to clump than if you try to flush a massive wodge

The basins in my bathroom/loo are close enough to the loo that I can wet toilet paper direct rather than use a moist toilet paper.

I prefer taking a wet flannel in a bag for baby’s face and hands as I don’t like the idea of residue all over LO before/after eating.

Nappy changes - yeah, you got me there. But I don’t flush them.

It's genuinely never even come into my mind to flush anything other than toilet paper and excrement down the toilet and the posts I see on threads asking about flushing tampons/wipes astound me. It's pretty obvious that'd cause problems, not necessarily to your pipes but further down the line.

And yes, I like to use moist toilet paper (wetted with the tap) because since having a baby and developing piles (ugh) I find it more difficult to clean, and more prone to make them worse if I’m having at them with dry paper.

I too never saw the point/wondered why people used wipes or bidets before I had the issue myself.