Natracare – Safe to Flush Wipes

If you watched Blue Planet UK last week you may have seen something you didn’t know existed. A new species perhaps, some new terror from the deep depths of the sea? Not quite, something rather more scary… A fatberg!

Credit: South West Water

In January the Sidmouth Fatberg was discovered, a 64 metre long mass of unpleasantness underneath the Esplanade in the genteel East Devon resort of Sidmouth.

The Blob – A fatberg from another world?

Back in 1958 it was Steve McQueen battling a terrifying strange blob from another world, in 2019 it is sewer workers battling another blob, this time very much from this world!

Brave sewer workers kitted out with full breathing apparatus to protect them from any potentially harmful and poisonous gases, used special sewer jetting equipment to hack away at the mass.

But if it’s not from another world, where is it from and what is it made of? Well it’s things being put down into the sewage system which simply should not be – a combination of non-biodegradables such as wet wipes, grease and cooking fat. The Fatberg starred in the BBC’s Blue Planet Live, where it was dissected to find out just what it is made of and so how best to deal with future fatbergs.
You can see the gory dissection here:

BBC Blue Planet Live

John and Nicky take the unenviable job of picking it apart, after heating it up they are able to pick through, finding panty liners, cotton buds and wet wipes.

Wet wipes are becoming an increasing problem, sales have risen dramatically in the last few years and you’d forgive consumers for thinking they can just flush them down the loo, with many supermarket offerings saying things like ‘flushable’. You’d be reasonable to expect a product that says ‘flushable’ on the packet is fine to flush, well you’d be wrong.

They are technically ‘flushable’ as they will go down when flushed and they will be out of your sight and mind however this does not take into account what happens to them after they have been flushed. The more of them people use, the more that build up and congeal along with cooking fats and other products which shouldn’t go down the loo or sink – and all of that forms fatbergs, a major problem for water companies.

Many of these ‘flushable’ wipes are made from plastic resins like polyester or polypropylene, meaning they simply don’t biodegrade.

Fortunately Natracare have a solution, they have a totally plastic-free wet wipe made from 100% FSC Certified paper tissue!

Safe to Flush

Water UK, the industry body have developed a series of tests wipes will need to pass to gain the approved logo Fine to Flush. The Fine to Flush tests set out in a 30 page document scrutinise whether the wipes are able to get past the u-bend, avoid snagging and avoid chemical residues. So far the Safe to Flush wipes from Natracare are the only wet wipes to gain the approval from Water UK.

Like other Natracare products these wipes are plastic free, made with 100% paper and guaranteed to break down safely after flushing. Infused with soothing organic aloe vera and witch hazel, these wipes are designed to cleanse and refresh intimate skin. The natural formula is kind to skin and the environment!

We hope this is just the start of a move away from plastic-based wet wipes, as the damage plastic can do to our environment and ecosystem has been known for a long time. Predictably politicians who had been advised for years by scientists of the problems being caused, did virtually nothing. It wasn’t until the BBC documentary series Blue Planet 2 highlighted the issue and its consequences in graphic detail our politicians started to take some action once the public became more aware of the problem. Our leaders don’t appear to be very good at leading us, simply reacting to public outrage, so perhaps it’s time for us to take the action towards a world with less wasteful plastic.

Hopefully Blue Planet UK can encourage people to look at wet wipes again and switch to plastic free alternatives like Natracare.

Watch the full episode of Blue Planet UK