Debate over banning short-distance flights takes off, but the cons outweigh the pros
'Fatbergs' cost €200m a year and 'manufacturers are to blame', say water boards
17/12/2017
THROWING wet-wipes down the toilet instead of in the bin costs every resident in Spain between €4 and €6 a year – about €200 million in total, several experts have reported.
Recently, a kilometre-long 'fatberg' was removed from Valencia's underground pipes, involving a third of the annual water and drains maintenance budget, and which could have been avoided by residents putting wipes in the bin.
According to the Spanish Water and Sanitation Supply Association (AEAS), manufacturers of wet-wipes – used instead of toilet paper – their manufacturers are 'breaching quality standards' because they should be making them biodegradable, or at least, putting clear warnings on the packaging to indicate that they are not.
AEAS chairman Fernando Morcillo says: “They should be made from fibres put together in a 'chaotic' format, not woven, because that way they would come apart in the water the way paper does; but very few manufacturers meet this requirement.
This is largely because, instead of using pure cellulose, makers of wet-wipes use 'third-rate recycled plastic mass'.
They are also 'infused with polluting chemicals', Morcillo reveals.
This effectively means that those who flush their wet-wipes away are effectively putting plastic down the lavatory.
'Fatbergs' are not the only problem with the blockages caused – because of the way the underground pipe network is constructed in cities such as Valencia and San Sebastián, both of which have had problems of this type, if the mains become blocked, raw sewage leaks out and can flood rivers.
In the case of Valencia, a massive leak, prevented in time, would have filled the botanical gardens now lying in the old Túria riverbed with thousands of litres of human waste.
Supermarkets have 'a fundamental role' in dealing with the problem, Morcillo says – they should be required by law to alert customers.
“Wet-wipes are generally placed next to the toilet paper on the shelves, and most people believe they can be flushed away in the same manner.
“This, combined with packaging advertising wet-wipes as 'toilet wipes' without any clarification adds to the issue.
“We've even seen some brands advising users to drop two or three of them down the toilet before flushing – despite the fact that as yet, no study has ever supported the fact that any sanitary infrastructure is able to cope with this practice,” Morcillo reveals.
Supermarket chain Mercadona's regular supplier, Ubesol Group, says it is equally concerned.
General Services and Strategy Manager Antonio Guerola says the company considers quality standards to be a 'priority' and finds it 'regrettable' that wet-wipes are 'the major and most visible part' of 'fatbergs' removed from city pipe networks.
But wet-wipes are not the only culprits – cotton buds, tampons and even condoms have been found among the massive, congealed lumps of waste blocking pipes, Guerola says.
Together with the AEAS, Guerola's department is working on an 'institutional campaign', backed by one of Spain's largest consumer groups, the OCU, and trying to bring government bodies on board.
They admit the problem is not normally thoughtlessness on behalf of consumers, but lack of knowledge.
And socialist MP Begoña Tundidor, whose party has called for the central government to throw its weight behind the campaign, says that although 95% of regular toilet roll dissolves within half an hour in the pipeworks, just two days after flushing one wet-wipe away, barely 36% biodegrades.
Related Topics
THROWING wet-wipes down the toilet instead of in the bin costs every resident in Spain between €4 and €6 a year – about €200 million in total, several experts have reported.
Recently, a kilometre-long 'fatberg' was removed from Valencia's underground pipes, involving a third of the annual water and drains maintenance budget, and which could have been avoided by residents putting wipes in the bin.
According to the Spanish Water and Sanitation Supply Association (AEAS), manufacturers of wet-wipes – used instead of toilet paper – their manufacturers are 'breaching quality standards' because they should be making them biodegradable, or at least, putting clear warnings on the packaging to indicate that they are not.
AEAS chairman Fernando Morcillo says: “They should be made from fibres put together in a 'chaotic' format, not woven, because that way they would come apart in the water the way paper does; but very few manufacturers meet this requirement.
This is largely because, instead of using pure cellulose, makers of wet-wipes use 'third-rate recycled plastic mass'.
They are also 'infused with polluting chemicals', Morcillo reveals.
This effectively means that those who flush their wet-wipes away are effectively putting plastic down the lavatory.
'Fatbergs' are not the only problem with the blockages caused – because of the way the underground pipe network is constructed in cities such as Valencia and San Sebastián, both of which have had problems of this type, if the mains become blocked, raw sewage leaks out and can flood rivers.
In the case of Valencia, a massive leak, prevented in time, would have filled the botanical gardens now lying in the old Túria riverbed with thousands of litres of human waste.
Supermarkets have 'a fundamental role' in dealing with the problem, Morcillo says – they should be required by law to alert customers.
“Wet-wipes are generally placed next to the toilet paper on the shelves, and most people believe they can be flushed away in the same manner.
“This, combined with packaging advertising wet-wipes as 'toilet wipes' without any clarification adds to the issue.
“We've even seen some brands advising users to drop two or three of them down the toilet before flushing – despite the fact that as yet, no study has ever supported the fact that any sanitary infrastructure is able to cope with this practice,” Morcillo reveals.
Supermarket chain Mercadona's regular supplier, Ubesol Group, says it is equally concerned.
General Services and Strategy Manager Antonio Guerola says the company considers quality standards to be a 'priority' and finds it 'regrettable' that wet-wipes are 'the major and most visible part' of 'fatbergs' removed from city pipe networks.
But wet-wipes are not the only culprits – cotton buds, tampons and even condoms have been found among the massive, congealed lumps of waste blocking pipes, Guerola says.
Together with the AEAS, Guerola's department is working on an 'institutional campaign', backed by one of Spain's largest consumer groups, the OCU, and trying to bring government bodies on board.
They admit the problem is not normally thoughtlessness on behalf of consumers, but lack of knowledge.
And socialist MP Begoña Tundidor, whose party has called for the central government to throw its weight behind the campaign, says that although 95% of regular toilet roll dissolves within half an hour in the pipeworks, just two days after flushing one wet-wipe away, barely 36% biodegrades.
Related Topics
More News & Information
BATTERIES from mobile phones, laptops and even cars are among those that must be recyclable within the next four years in accordance with a new European Union regulation, as explained by Spain's minister for...
ELECTRICITY could become cheaper to use at more convenient hours in a hypothetical about-turn for household bills – and that's thanks to solar power.
YET again and for the 36th year running, Spain holds the record for the highest number of blue-flagged beaches in the world, with its east-coast region of the Comunidad Valenciana having more than any other.