Wipes

It doesn’t seem long ago that I had a septic problem. Boy, did we  have a blockage? It was a Friday early evening, I was hoping our local septic guy whom we had known for years would be available to find the problem. My daughter at the times was going through a phrase using a lot of flushable wipes. Thankfully our septic guy had time to swing by and correct the problem….. $ 600.00 dollars later the septic guy said the the flow pile was extremely clogged with the wipes. He said he experiences this problem all the time. ” Do not use them “. People flushing wet wipes down the toilet is the single biggest cause of sewer blockages – in fact, they  are accounted for 93% of the matter .

Most Wipes are not compostable or biodegradable. According to plasticoceans some reports indicate that up to 50% of waste is from single-use products.

Wipes break down into microplastics.  What are microplastics? Microplastics are small plastic pieces or fibers that are smaller than 5 mm in size. They come in many forms including beads, fragments, pellets, fibers and more. What this means is: microplastics become fish food. When we eat the fish, the microplastics get into us.

New research published by the  journal Environment International  on March 24, 2022 by Prof Dick Vethaak concluded that 80% of the people tested had tiny particles of microplastics in the blood stream.

In conclusion: it isn’t worth using them at all. The planet is paying the price for convenience on one time usage products.