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 think disposable nappies are so readily available that people just use them. I use reusable nappies on my son and it is a bit of extra work but totally worth it. It’s easier than I thought it would be and I encourage anyone to try them.

I’m always surprised how many people run a full bath for the baby to bathe them in. Uses so much more water than a baby bath.

I think you can get wipes which are genuinely biodegradable - not to be flushed but to downgrade quicker in landfill. I use cheeky wipes but any and all improvements should be encouraged.

I get that being a parent is hard but it’s for the benefit of our children that we need to make what changes we can.

Honestly there are so many ways to make small improvements. None of us are perfect and all leave a footprint on the planet, but all of us can do a bit more. Not flushing wipes without a very good reason is one.

People can also think about things like buy bamboo toothbrushes instead of plastic, take plastic bags to the supermarket etc. Makes little difference to your life (if you can afford it) but a big difference to the planet.

Yeah definitely with the landfill but what else do you do? Adults that need 4 pad changes a day and use wipes - means each pad and wipes go in a plastic bag and binned. But not many other options. The pads are supplied so no choice unless you buy your own, wipes are usually own brand basics as they can go through a pack a day or more

Landfill (or incineration) is where non recyclable rubbish is meant to go. In the UK it goes bagged up in a controlled process to secure managed landfills. If that worries you (and it should, we are running out of space) then use less throwaway stuff

Certainly don't flush it down the loo where it will overflow into rivers, pollute the sea, clog sewers or get shovelled out at the sewage works who will dispose of it... to landfill!

Ollivander was not saying it should be flushed NotMeNoNo! She was saying that she knows landfill is not ideal but that there is no alternative to disposables in the adult care context.

Yep that exactly! We are really strict where I work (the company is) about not flushing

"I can just imagine holding my incontinent 12yo over a bidet."

Me too and I'll consider using reuseable pads when every other child of his age is walking around with a fat nappy arse.

X post. That was to clarify the PP who said landfill was no better than flushing. Obviously people with a medical need should not be got at for binning their waste I don't mean that at all. The landfills are mostly full of far less essential items.

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet but you need a LOT less wipes if you use cloth wipes. (Also if you look there are far better brands than cheeky wipes, they just seem to be the ones that promote themselves more) I have a one year old and can do a messy nappy change with 2 wipes, I’ve never needed more than 5 wipes in a day and usually as few as 2 or 3 so not much to carry around.

NotMe - of course not but nobody is looking at it because it's not a target audience I guess. Whereas nappies/wipes are because they can label them organic/biodegradable and it can be targeted to mums who are a giant audience
But (I'm thinking about my work tonight) I will bin 6 pads tonight, plus maybe 2-3 full packets of wipes, and 6 plastic bags. It's a lot, but I don't know what can be done about it

@JessieMcJessie you'd store the clean wipes in a plastic container with some water. The dirty ones can be stored dry or in a different container with water. Use essential oils to ward off smells. Check the Cheeky Wipes website to see how it works. Our changing table is nowhere near a tap and it works fine.

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It's unavoidable I suppose but the best thing you can do is appropriate disposal.

I've switched to micro fibre cheeky wipes. Lovely and soft and dry really quickly when they've been washed.

Nope, not going to start adding the rinsing and cleaning of containers of poo from my changing table to my daily to-do list, sorry. I do use flannels for face and hand wiping but they just get rinsed in the kitchen sink. However for nappy changes I’m afraid that using wipes but not flushing them is the best I can offer to the environment.

For those of you with piles, coconut oil on loo roll is a good alternative to wet wipes.

JessieMcJessie It's really easy to use washable wipes with a baby. I used to carry a small bottle of water around and squirt a bit on the wipe. At home I had a small spray bottle by the changing mat. It was no more of an effort or faff than using a disposable wipe!

Yeah our sewer got blocked by them, we got plumbers out, must have just shoved blockage on coz next door but one had a flood of poo that went out into the road they called round to ask us not to use wipes anymore as we were the only ones with little kids on the same sewer. Ooops. Not flushed any wipes since.

On a related note, it seems to be more difficult to buy big cleaning sponges for cleaning bathrooms. Nearest Waitrose has stopped stocking than, and instead has a huge display of household cleaning wipes instead. Presumably some people will shove these down the toilet as well.

All supermarkets I've been to have been the same. Local hardware store had them but had sold out.

Is this because everyone now thinks cleaning sponges are unhygienic?

I don't want to use loads of cleaning wipes. I also didn't want the microfibre cloths on sale because they don't break down.

Ps they were the Andrex ones as I foolishly believed they were flushable and would decompose as described.

I get wet wipes supplied with my catheters. When I'm out I throw them in nappy bags and they do go to landfill, but unless I want to risk countless urine and kidney infections, I'll keep on using them.

At home, I've started using a narrow bottle filled with warm water and liquid soap, swished over me at an angle.

Our street sewer is linked so two sets of semis share a drain - I'm the last of the other three householders and literally always get the crap after one of them has flushed wipes, tampons and cotton buds. Like a PP the council has written to all of us and I've put a note through the doors, but I still get a blockage after really heavy rain.

I'm old enough to remember pads having instructions to tear the outer layer and flush separately to the core, but neither part flushed first time so I binned them.

I also remember the shoreline at the local beach being littered with tampon applicators and condom rings.

Listened to Radio 4 programme this afternoon "Costing the Earth" The companies who make the "flushable" have their own tests to define flushable. The man from the water industry labs ( called Mr Drinkwater ironically) said there were one or two brands which almost passed their test.
In the water industry tests they try to match the behaviour of the sewerage system but he likened the water flow used by the manufacturers to puting the wipes in a washing machine- lots of water and spinning around. Under his tests the flushables didn't break down but under the industry teats they did. There was then a spokesman from the industry trade association who wriggled quite a lot- British sewerage systems are older that the rest of Europe and the problem was non flushables and people didn't know the difference. He also claimed that they were really used by older people and was challenged about the adverts aimed at Millenials.
It is a good listen!!!

Thank you for recommending Cheeky Wipes - I've just ordered some reusable wipes and sanitary pads as well.

Has anyone had this problem?? Newborn will happily sleep day and night in anything other than the tutti bambini bedside crib !
Any suggestions would really help.

@JessieMcJessie - sorry, what? There's no "containers of poo" involved. The poo is caught by a paper liner inside the reusable nappy and this is flushed down the toilet in the same way that your poo is when you wipe using a toilet tissue. No 'carrying containers of poo' anywhere!