Wet wipes containing plastic are finally set to be banned across the UK as ministers warn a ‘step change’ is needed to protect the country’s rivers.

The long-awaited announcement comes after a campaign against the products which have been blamed for hundreds of thousands of blockages in the UK sewer system costing millions of pounds a year.

Manufacturers have also come under fire discarded wipes increasingly littering Britain’s beaches.

Under plans to be set out by the environment secretary Steve Barclay it will become illegal to sell or supply wet wipes which contain plastic.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝A
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      8 months ago

      It is usually passed through a mesh at sewage plants but that isn’t going to stop fatbergs and other blockages before then. It’s just simpler to make sure “flushable” wipes actually are flushable.

      • wewbull
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        8 months ago

        Those are called “toilet paper”.

        • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝A
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          8 months ago

          Toilet? Paper? It’s a novel concept (when he was a Uni, my brother used to use cut up pages from the Thomson Local Directory, so I suppose it is something like that) but I doubt it’d catch on.

          • wewbull
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            8 months ago

            Well… No Thompson directory anymore. So that explains that.