Ask Southern Water’s experts about ‘The Unflushables’ - items that could cause a sewer flood in your home - £150 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

Every year in England and Wales water companies deal with over 300,000 blockages, many of which are caused by common household items being flushed down the toilet. That’s why Southern Water, along with the Consumer Council for Water, have launched ‘The Unflushables’, a campaign to help people protect themselves from the misery of sewer flooding. Many products that have been labelled as ‘flushable’ can actually contribute to these types of problems, so, to clear up some of the confusion, the team at Southern Water are offering you the opportunity to ask some of your burning, sewer-related questions to their expert, Sharon Holdstock!

Here’s what Southern Water have to say: “‘The Unflushables’ campaign aims to help people know how to properly dispose of fat, oil, grease and unflushable items like wipes, tampons, nappies and condoms. It’s designed to help customers understand the impact a sewage flood in their house can have – and provide some hints and tips to help prevent it.”

Post any questions you might have about ‘The Unflushables’ - how to dispose of them, what can and can’t be flushed, or how to get into good habits to prevent sewer flooding, and we’ll pick 20 for Sharon to answer. Everyone who posts their questions will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky Mumsnetter will win a £150 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Here is some information about Sharon Holdstock:

Sharon is currently Southern Water’s Field Customer Engagement Officer, and has been with the company for five years. She travels to areas that have been affected by flooding caused by blocked drainage systems and advises people on what not to flush, giving talks and presentations around the community. She is passionate about this project, and about the importance of getting the message out to as many people as possible to help them protect their homes and the environment.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw,

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Is there a list of absolutely everything that should not be flushed down the toilet? I think I know most of the obvious things like wipes, and cotton buds etc. What chemicals are safe to use and help? Bleach, disinfectant etc.

Reading all the comments about "flushable" wipes has me slightly worried.

I have always used the flushable toilet wipes for DS, are these really flushable? I have always flushed them, should I not be doing so?

I've just opened a mailing from Thames Water with a special extra flyer in it begging people not to put "flushable" wipes down the loo, as they combine with fats and oils to make, in the memorable words of this leaflet, a "rock-hard fatberg" which blocks the pipes and is a bugger to remove, so SpagettiNetty no, you shouldn't flush them!

Using bleach and other chemicals is a concern - what is best to use for cleaning or unblocking drains and plugholes?

Pouring all this nasty stuff into our drains and water system seems more concerning than tissues perhaps?

No spaghetti - not flushable!

Are toilet cleaning wipes flushable? I tend to think they are, but fairly certain they don't degrade that quickly.

I don't do this but I know my mother does...

Cat poo down the loo ( she lived in a flat and claimed she didn't like having it bagged up in her bin waiting to be taken outside )

It sounded totally wrong to me and she stopped doing it but I'd love to be totally validated

Howland- i asked this earlier as i've been told poo should always go down the loo into sewage, and not into landfill via bins.

So i'm on your mums side. Interested to know!

We run a dog grooming salon from home but have special devices fitted to stop hair going down the drains. Our streets drains blocked recently. The man that came out said that it was more than likely baby wipes and their was no evidence of hair. Is there anything else we can be doing to make sure it isn't hair or to stop the baby wipes affecting our drains too? Xx

Great idea - I have to say, I think there is quite a lot of confusion about what to flush. We have a pretty bad flushing system and get blocked up a lot. But there are a few items that I do flush, (and thought it was OK) but now I'd like to ask about.
Those are - make up removal wipes, flash wipes/cleaning wipes and tampons. I have always flushed tampons and presumed that was ok. Although I would certainly never have done that with sanitary pads.
However, I'm thinking the cleaning wipes are a sure NO? Thanks

Hi
I bought some "luxury" quilted toilet paper the other week as it was on offer. Don't usually buy it otherwise. I reckon it was about four times thickness of normal paper and DID clog up my loo. Surely some quilted brands are as unflushable as wipes? If so, are you able to take action against them?

What's the best way to clean the toilet

My question is to why there seems to be a bigger problem with blocked pipes now than say 20 years ago when back then people put all sorts down the toilet ?
Why is it nowadays when people are more educated about blockages and the environment are we facing bigger problems?

I hadn't realised about tampons not being flushable until my early 30s

Nowadays, I'm much more aware of what can and can't be put down the loo or sink. Having seen an item on fat bergs (I think it was a Giles Cohen piece in a Gordon Ramsay show), dh and I have been much more careful. We also have a councils supplied compost bin into which we put our food waste and that gets collected with our garden waste (non cooked food waste goes on to the compost heap)

We put our tea leaves and tea down the loo before making a fresh pot. I've always assumed that that is ok, but now I'm wondering

Does flushing medications which are expired or no longer used down the toilet cause any damage?

I can answer the medicine one - yes it does cause damage.

Please take all medicines back to a pharmacy where they can dispose of them in a safe way. Medical forms of waste aren't so much about blockages but pollution, damage to the environment in general (including harm to wildlife), local and much bigger ecosystems, with humans at the top of the food chain. When disposing of anything that dissolves / can be suspended in water, think about whether that substance would do harm if poured into our rivers, streams or spread onto our fields, fed to wild and farmed animal life or poured directly into our plates and into our glasses. If it's not safe to do that with, it's not safe to flush and add into our water supply. Imagine how adding antibiotics into the general environment might effect our world... It's not possible to clean water of any and every medicine that might get added, so these things do get out of the pipes and into the world very easily.

I think we need much more education around waste disposal and how all these processes work after the flush / the bin men / the bagging up. I don't know half the answers to the questions on here, and I would very much like to know so I can do things better!

natholland ALL of those are a no. Including tampons.

Misc that's exactly it. I've seen it put as there is no flushing something "away" in that there's no "away" - it all goes somewhere and just as likely will return to us, either in short order as a sewage backup into our house or garden, or in the longer term as antibiotics or hormones in our food and drinking water.

well....are we ever going to get a response???

Have they seen the posts? Was particularly thinking of my post asking if there's anything I could do from home work wise, as I'm a Pluvial FRM, asset management & refurbishment (moving to single drainage instead of combined) to name a few.

It's a dream job of mine.

perhaps it's actually a research project to demonstrate the ignorance of the general public

Are we ever going to have a response? Bad form from the water company.

Really bad isn't it :(

Great way to do social media... get people engaged then can't be arsed to join in themselves. How polite and respectful.

By the way I think this thread was just to drum up engagement for their 'unflushables' films on their website... which I've watched and they don't actually address the questions we have (ffs). They just whitter on about how bad blockages can be but don't give any advice beyond 'don't flush stuff you shouldnt'. No list of these 'unflushables', no advice and no sharing of expertise.

Feel annoyed that I watched the videos in an effort to get some actual information but just got marketing guff* vaguely telling people ooh look, you'll feel like X if it happens... but not thinking well enough of people to bother to give them actual actionable advice or launching a campaign of behaviour change.

Don't stop at a waffly general emotional insight, go through with it properly, and respect people's ability and power by engaging with them properly.

*As a marketeer, I really know my marketing guff! The films are FAR too long for some general mood piece by the way. Put some info in and have more info on the launch page if you're so set on doing a fluff piece on the cutesy talking furniture.