Meet Wallace the wet wipe monster

10th November 2016

We all need to be binners, not flushers.

Wet wipes are a 21^st century necessity - from baby wipes, hygiene wipes, to cleaning wipes. Instead of the wipes being binned once they have done the job, many end up flushing them. These wipes then cause blockages in our homes and ultimately our sewerage system due to the unclear labelling.

We have been working closely with the Marine Conservation Society to spread the awareness of the financial and environmental cost of putting the wrong stuff down the loo.

Wallace was unveiled at the launch event in Falmouth on 8 September where we spoke to the public about our campaign and how they can help at home. Many of the locals were intrigued to find out about Wallace and were shocked by the facts. 

We plan to spread awareness to more places affected by blockages and encourage them to change their ways. We are also pushing towards clearer labelling as even so-called flushable or dispersible wipes can cause issues. This is a campaign that is supported by all water companies.

The public misconception is that wet wipes are flushable and disintegrate like toilet paper, but they don't, this can be clearly seen in this shake test

 Typically wet wipes contain plastic, if they reach the sea, they stick around for a long time endangering wildlife and spoiling our enjoyment of our coastline. In an average year we remove over 1,800 tonnes of inappropriate material from the sewer system, enough to fill 148 double decker buses. So with the help of Wallace we're spreading the message that we all need to be binners, not flushers.