Love Your Loo campaign launches in Exmouth

25th July 2017

South West Water is launching its Love Your Loo campaign in Exmouth, to encourage everyone only to flush the 3Ps – pee, paper and poo. 

Parts of Exmouth have 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, the Love Your Loo team will be at The Strand on Tuesday 8 August, accompanied by some posh portable toilets available for the public to use free of charge.

Over the summer, dedicated Love Your Loo advisers will be talking to customers and spreading the 3Ps message in Exmouth.

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.

“We have done 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. Richard Stockdale, Area Director for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “The Love Your Loo campaign is a great example of how South West Water is trying to protect the environment. There’s lots of confusing messages out there about what can and can’t be flushed down the loo – please remember it should only be pee, paper and poo and help keep our beaches great places to visit.”

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

Further information:

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