A few years ago, Irish actress and comedian Sharon Horgan wrote on Twitter that she cleaned her entire bathroom with two baby wipes.
That was brilliant, she’d said. And she was right.
We’re all short on time, and there’s something very satisfying about grabbing a pack of wipes and getting a quick job done, from cleaning around a sink to wiping a child’s sticky fingers.
But wipes have become almost too convenient. You can get them for anything. There are wipes specially designed for polishing furniture, for cleaning car upholstery, for wiping windows or floors.
The beauty industry is now full of them. I am as guilty as anyone for using makeup remover wipes every day.
Wipes form mountains of grease in the sewage system and cause untold costs for infrastructure and the environment
All of these things used to be more expensive and considered a luxury item, but as they’ve come down in price, we’ve come to see them as an everyday purchase.
They are so ubiquitous on supermarket shelves that buying them seems completely normal.
But like anything easy, it has become a bad habit. It is not a bad thing that the government steps in to stop us.
The more we use them – and unknowingly throw them away or flush them away – the bigger the grease mountains in our sewers or the plastic heaps that accumulate in our oceans or landfills.
I think in 20 years we will look back in horror at how much we used them. We need to wake up, realize it’s not right and change so that our children and grandchildren have a better future.
I’ve never used wipes to clean before, and it’s not a big deal to just grab a cloth and the right cleaning product to get a household job done.
Not having wet wipes isn’t the worst thing in the world – we just depend on it. And the sooner we get rid of that addiction, the better.
The Miracle of Vinegar, by Aggie MacKenzie and Emma Marsden, is now available in paperback and costs £8.99.
We need to stop using wipes now for the sake of our children and grandchildren, says Aggie
Wet wipes containing toxic plastic could be banned as part of government plans to clean up rivers and seas
Stricter labeling could also be introduced to encourage consumers not to flush disposable items down the toilet, even if they do not contain plastic.
Ministers are expected to announce the crackdown in the coming days, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Plastic-free wet wipes wouldn’t be affected by any ban, and many manufacturers have already started switching to more sustainable alternatives. However, the latest figures show that 90 per cent of the 11 billion wet wipes used each year in the UK contain plastic, says the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).
96% of respondents said they would support a ban on wet wipes containing plastic
When flushed, all wet wipes help to create fatbergs – a mass of wipes, paper, cooking grease and sewage that clogs sewers, pollutes rivers and harms wildlife.
Despite some labeling it as “fine for flushing,” there are also concerns about how long wet wipes take to break down.
Two years ago, ministers asked for evidence that plastic wet wipes should be banned altogether.
When the findings were published earlier this year, 96 percent of respondents to an official survey said they would support a ban on wet wipes containing plastic, though only 50 percent of manufacturers agreed.
The government’s response said: ‘Given the public interest in introducing a ban on wet wipes containing plastic, we note that this is a course of action that will be carefully considered.’
A possible ban or stricter labeling will take place in consultation.
Wet wipes are believed to be responsible for 93 per cent of sewer blockages, costing £100 million a year to clear. Companies have been accused by MPs of falsely labeling their products as flushable. The MCS has called for wet wipes to carry a label of ‘fine to flush’ only if manufacturers can prove they break down completely.
Allison Ogden-Newton, of Keep Britain Tidy, said: ‘Wet wipes are the work of the devil. They are largely disposable plastics that, once in the sewer system, cause endless environmental damage via our discharge pits.
“They’re blocking our Victorian pipes, leading to increased use of overflow pipes and even more raw sewage entering our rivers and seas.
‘The manufacture claims they are ‘flushable’ or ‘biodegradable’, but that has not been tested.
‘What we do know is that they are so harmful that they have formed monumental mounds in our waterways, altering the course of rivers such as the Thames. Then the best we can hope for is that they decompose into microplastics, further damaging the natural world and even entering our food chain.
“We need legislation to make it clear that they are never allowed to use the toilet.”
In 2021, Labor MP Fleur Anderson introduced a bill calling for a ban on plastic wet wipes. She said: ‘The damage is enormous. Worldwide, 100 million animals die every year from plastic waste.’
Major retailers, including Boots and Tesco, have already banned wet wipes containing plastic.
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year that single-use plastic plates, cups and cutlery will be banned by the end of December.
Our sister newspaper, the Daily Mail, has been at the forefront of banning single-use items through its award-winning Turn The Tide On Plastic and Banish The Bags campaigns.
In another move, water companies could face unlimited fines for pollution. Environment Minister Therese Coffey is expected to announce plans that ministers say will ‘make the polluters pay’.
The latest figures from the Environment Agency showed there were 301,091 wastewater discharges in 2022 – an average of 824 per day.