Love Your Loo campaign launches in St Austell

21st September 2015

South West Water is launching a Love Your Loo campaign in St Austell, to encourage everyone only to flush the 3Ps - pee, paper and poo.

St Austell has a history of sewer blockages and flooding, which can be caused by people inappropriately flushing baby wipes, hygiene wipes, moist toilet tissue, cleaning wipes, cleansing pads and sanitary products.

To launch the campaign, South West Water has hired local company Cornwall Mobile Billboards to display prominent Love Your Loo messages around the town.

Over the next 12 months, the Love Your Loo team will be spreading the 3Ps message in St Austell by talking to customers.

South West Water's Becky Moran explained: "The good news is that most people* claim only to flush the 3Ps down the loo.

"But some people** admit to inappropriately flushing baby wipes, hygiene wipes, moist toilet tissue, cleaning wipes, cleansing pads and sanitary products. This contributes to the 8,500 blocked sewers we deal with every year, which costs about £4.5million and adds to bills.

"Last year we did some research to find out why people flush the wrong things. People told us they were confused about what can and can't be flushed. Sometimes that's because the packaging is misleading. Many products say they are flushable and biodegradable - but they take so long to break down that they build up in pipes and cause blockages.

"We are working with the rest of the water industry to encourage manufacturers and retailers to label their products responsibly. In the meantime, our customers told us they think it's our job to tell them what can and can't be flushed - so that's exactly what we'll be doing.

"We'll be encouraging everybody to only flush the 3Ps - pee, paper and poo - and to bag and bin soiled wipes and sanitary products. Cleaning wipes and cleansing pads can go straight in the bin."

The Love Your Loo campaign is supported by the Environment Agency. Alan Burrows, Area Manager for Devon & Cornwall, said: "South West Water's new campaign is a great reminder to only flush the 3Ps. Blockages can also lead to damage to the environment and affect bathing water quality so we're proud to support Love your Loo."

To find out more, see www.southwestwater.co.uk/loveyourloo

Notes to editors

• Consumer research conducted by South West Water during 2014 showed that *77% of research respondents stated that they only flush pee, paper and poo, with only **23% admitting to flushing other items
• Love Your Loo is a 12-month pilot campaign in six areas - Barnstaple, St Austell, Camborne/Redruth, Tiverton, Torquay and Falmouth - in addition to our routine sewer cleansing and maintenance programme

Published: 21 September 2015