Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

banning baby wipes

36 replies

gillybeanz · 08/05/2018 14:52

www.independent.co.uk/environment/wet-wipes-banned-uk-pollution-single-use-rubbish-sea-life-environment-a8340111.html

Why is it going to take 25 years.
Surely when environmentalists identify something like this is should be done with immediate effect.

OP posts:
OP posts:
Doyoumind · 08/05/2018 14:56

They need to give manufacturers enough time to develop alternatives and develop the market for them.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 08/05/2018 14:57

Its not going to take 25 years (hopefully!) it's part of a 25 year long progam, which I agree seems ludicrously long.

Original poster
gillybeanz · 08/05/2018 14:57

whats wrong with what we have now?there's cotton wool that we don't flush, we have sponges and flannels.

OP posts:
OhYouBadBadKitten · 08/05/2018 14:58

When you think back to 25 years ago, 1993, think about what has been invented and has changed since then!

FurForksSake · 08/05/2018 14:59

I think it will take a long time for people to get used to the idea, we have all been so reliant on disposable items it is hard to imagine a life without. It may be as it is low down the list of priorities so a long time frame is needed.

I saw an article with parents completely beside themselves at the idea of a word without baby wipes. We survived thousands of years without them! Reusable wipes have been available or simply using a flannel or cotton wool. Though of course cotton wool has issues and might get phased out too..

The number of disposable cloths available now is incredible and a lot of the issue is people disposing of them incorrectly. It is unfortunate that people flush things and that people make products marketed as flushable when they really shouldn't be. I am always astounded that people put tampons and wipes in the loo. This does seem a heavy handed way to stop people, but they are still plastic and should go.

I am sure in 25 years time some clever person will be making them out of nettles and bamboo and they will be compostable anyway.

Eminybob · 08/05/2018 15:00

It can’t be that hard to make properly biodegradable baby wipes?

They do flushable moist toilet tissue (which I assume is biodegradable otherwise it wouldn’t be flushable?) which is practically the same thing is it not?

FurForksSake · 08/05/2018 15:02

Moist toilet tissue shouldn't be flushed, I think there was a campaign to get manufacturers to remove the flushable claim? www.wessexwater.co.uk/publications/wet-wipe-evidence-report/

fascinated · 08/05/2018 15:04

Pisses me off that I am going to be deprived of what are very useful products because of idiots who have insisted on flushing them when it is bleeding obvious that the sewers are not meant to cope with them!

FurForksSake · 08/05/2018 15:05

And biodegradable as a term is somewhat misleading, www.greengood.com/terms_to_know/biodegradable_definitions.htm if you don't place things in the right environment to biodegrade they won't degrade and not in the way the term is meant.

FurForksSake · 08/05/2018 15:09

fascinated, even if you don't flush them they still are made of plastic and are awful environmentally.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 08/05/2018 15:09

Its not simply a flushing issue.

I'm a lover of convenience but we just can't keep filling the planet with crap, recycling and biodegrading is good but we need to use things more than once.

AndhowcouldIeverrefuse · 08/05/2018 15:10

I suffer from occassional incontinence due to the NHS mismanaging my DC's delivery. I hope wet wipes are not banned without an equally effective, hygienic and discrete alternative.

averylongtimeasSpartacus · 08/05/2018 15:19

Wet wipes are very very useful, that is a fact.
But they cause huge problems when flushed and don't biodegrade when they go to landfill.

Before wet wipes we used washable cloths. I had twins, and would take a number of damp cloths with me, with a separate bag for used ones. They got washed on a good hot wash before reuse.
Not as convenient, but perfectly possible.

Also had terry nappies, and I must admit I don't miss them. The bucket of napisan, standing over the twin tub washer set to "boil", using the washing tongs to lift them into the spinner, took hours. But the line full of Snow White nappies flapping in the breeze was very satisfying!

fascinated · 08/05/2018 15:55

There is plenty of plastic which serves no purpose that could be eliminated before we need to start on a product used predominantly by mothers (and some fathers now and again), disabled people and the elderly. But those groups are least complain, eh?

hazeyjane · 08/05/2018 16:02

I used washable wipes with dds, but ds is disabled and has bowel issues, and wipes with a special cleansing mousse are kind of essential. I certainly can't imagine how it would work if school had to use cloths which then had to be stored all day to send home!

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 08/05/2018 16:09

Lots of areas of plastic usage are being targeted, not just wipes!! They are just the ones in the news today.

3luckystars · 08/05/2018 16:13

Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
No no!

Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Why are we being PUNISHED!!!
Chocolate: ruined
7up : disgusting diety tasting
Wipes: outlawed

NNOOOOOOOOOOOO!

megletthesecond · 08/05/2018 16:18

Wipes were gentler than our local wretched hard water on my dc's eczema prone skin.
Cotton wool and water caused awful rashes.
I have never flushed a wipe though.

IceBearRocks · 08/05/2018 16:51

See...most people don't need wipes after the kids are out of nappies ...but if you are like me and have a double incontinent child .... Who will never be toilet trained....asking me to wash shitty flannels on a daily basis is a bit of a big ask...as that's never gonna end ?!!!
Asking me to carry about shitty flannels forever and a day .... That would just add to the ultimate shittyness of having a disabled child?!!

QuackPorridgeBacon · 08/05/2018 17:12

How would I leave the house? With my elder child it may have been fine but my youngest is almost three, still in nappies and is fed a diet of special milk via an my tube. Her nappies are runny and need multiple wipes, how would I honestly take her out? She also has a habit of shoving a hand down there super quick, so I’d have to use the same cloth on her shit, also on her hand? Nah, I’d be pissed and I’d stockpile wipes if I had to. It sounds drastic but we need them. Design them better or something but don’t do away with them. She’s also delicate down there and the sensitive wipes are great.

Ollivander84 · 08/05/2018 17:16

What are all the people who need care going to do? We bag and bin wipes but a particularly bad bout of diarrhoea or large motion in a pad can use 1/3 of a packet of wipes depending what type they are
We can't use cotton wool, and we do use some toilet roll but wipes are pretty much essential

LockedOutOfMN · 08/05/2018 17:21

Maybe wipes could be available on prescription?

I agree with a pp that there are other uses of plastic that could be tackled first (or at the same time as wipes), such as excessive packaging on food, and disposable single use cups, plates, cutlery, etc.

Doyoumind · 08/05/2018 17:22

I think the plan is for alternative wipes that are properly biodegradable to be developed so that the old style ones can be phased out.

Buglife · 08/05/2018 17:22

I just bought a Cheeky Wipes kit for when DS2 was born, I had been thinking about it a lot. I do still have wet wipes as DS1 still has an overnight nappy although daytime in pants, and he does often poo in his nappy in the morning when he wakes and I suppose it’s difficult to imagine reusable wipes on a proper poo rather than baby milk poos... and for out and about all day carrying them even in a wet bag isn’t appealing. But I want to make an effort to drastically reduce what we throw away in general. Even gearing up to try some cloth nappies.