Flushable Wipes

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Flushable Wipes

• We know we have a problem.
• What can we do about it?

2
WHAT ARE PUBLIC AGENCIES DOING ABOUT THE
PROBLEM?

• COMPLAINING
• MORE LINE CLEANING
• MORE EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE PUMP UNCLOGGING
• PUMP REPLACEMENT
• PUBLIC OUTREACH

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WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC THINK?

• HOW ARE THEY AFFECTED?
• Plugged toilets.
• Clogged laterals.
• Interior water damage.
• Plumbing repairs.
• ARE THEY CONCERNED?
• Consumers continue buying products.
• Consumers appreciate the convenience of flushing.
• Consumers love to flush germs rather than store
  them in the trashcan.
• Manufacturers continue trying to make everything
  known to man flushable.
• DO THEY EVEN KNOW THERE IS A PROBLEM?
• Probably a small percentage. (See next slide)
• IF THEY KNEW THERE WAS A PROBLEM WOULD THEY CARE?
• Only if it is costing them money or
  inconvenience.

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Mental Poo Blog

• Flushable Wipes, My Ass!
• Thank you, Kleenex, for my E-Coli poisoning.I
  was reading another blog the other day, which
  recounted how their basement was
  flooded.Although weve had our share of water
  around my house, the closest I've ever come to
  having water in my basement was a horrific
  incident almost solely caused by the Kleenex
  company.Thats right.Flushable Wipes are the
  Devil.

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• firsta bit of backgroundI have two kids. My
  oldest daughter is 7 years old.About 7-1/2
  years ago, we were in the process of
• building an addition to our house. This addition
  included
• a ¾ bath. The sewer pipes leading from this
  bathroom out to the
• street wind through our basement, at a height
• approximately 5 or 6 inches above my head.If
  you do the math, youll find that my daughter was
  still
• of that magical diaper age. Yes...it's the age
  of wonder where every bodily function
• ends up in a giant heap of stink smashed against
  their
• bottoms...requiring parental intervention to mop
  up the
• crime scene.Kids, being what they are, dont
  care where they crap or
• pee. Typically, theyll do this where and when
  you dont
• want them to, like say standing in line at
  the DMV
• when you're next in line...and it now smells like
  the very
• bowels of Hell have opened and YOU NEED TO CHANGE
  
• YOUR KID NOW!!!
• When a child poops in a diaper, it is akin to
  discovering a
• body in the woodsand

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• said body was dismembered by an army of
  poo-wielding chainsaw madmen.Theres a hideous,
  horrifying stench.and theres a magnificent,
  fantastical mess.To quote my previous post,
  "Poo Marbles and Mona Lisa"Baby poo is
  disgusting. Right out of the chute, baby poo
  resembles tar and smells like - if I may be so
  bold - Armageddon. Once again, the Fifth Horseman
  of the Apocalypse - Stinky - rears his ugly
  head.Cleaning up this mess is not only an
  effort in intestinal fortitudebut its also a
  bitch on the mellifluous odor of your
  house.Because, unlike toilet paperyou cant
  flush a diaper.You have to find a "Diaper
  Genie" to store them....or throw them
  out......or hide them really well.
• Butthenwe heard of the miracle of the
  Flushable Wipe.

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• OH! Flushable Wipes!It's a wipe!It's
  FLUSHABLE!Wipe the bum! Collect the poo! Flush
  it away!(Just like what Daddy does with his
  pooexcept his is much, much larger...would take
  an entire container of wipes to clean...and
  (HEALTH WARNING FOR PARENTS) may contain
  peanuts)Anway...so we bought the Flushable
  Wipes...and we used themand we flushed
  themBut kids keep pooing.So we used
  more.and flushed em.Untilone daythe Jed
  Clampett in me noticed that up from our new
  shower came abubblin crude.Poo that is. Brown
  Gold.and some pee.The sight of the brownish
  water floating in the bottom of our shower, along
  with the flurry of little brown canoes, tipped me
  off.

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• We had ourselves a clog
• somewhere downstream from the bathroom. We
  figured that the problem had to be the very
  slight slope of the pipes. However, my contractor
  is akin to a giant, so I try to not scold him
  very often. So we called a company who came
  and cleared out the pipes for us using a giant
  Arm of Death, and gas masks. This arm thing was
  SO COOL - it reminded me of a movie I saw as a
  kid called "The Black Hole" (not the same movie
  that I have hidden elsewhere in my house), and
  the evil robot had arms JUST LIKE THIS.For a
  minute, I wanted to be a rooter.

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Then I watched them work on poopy pipes. And the
feeling left quickly.Anyway, within an hour,
the pipe was cleared.Life went on.And we kept
wiping our daughters bum...And flushing those
damn wipes...
And sure as you know what.we got ourselves
another little brown oasis in the bottom of the
shower after a while.Sonofagun.NowI happened
to be watching the Roto guy who came the last
time. I watched him intently...so I knew (KNEW)
what I had to do...I watched him enter our
basement, and check the pipes leading above my
head snaking through the rooms. He tapped on
themapparently checking that the immediate area
was free and clear......then
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• he opened them up.On the corner of one of the
  pipes, where it took a bend, was a plate that
  would open with the turn of a wrench, allowing
  you to look inside.At the time, after tapping
  on the pipes, he opened the plate and could see
  where the clog was a little further down.Piece
  of cake.I went downstairs, armed with a wrench,
  a bucket, and my faithful wife beside me...ready
  to clear the clog.Raising the wrench to the
  plate just above my face, I began
  turning.please note, at this point, that I
  neglected to tap on the pipe.which -
  unbeknownst to me - happened to be completely
  backed up with poo...and pee...and God knows what
  else. Had I tapped on the friggin'
  thing...things may have turned out
  differently...but...At about a quarter turn,
  the plate let go with the force of several
  hundred gallons of sewage stopped upstream of
  it.This plate plunked off of my forehead,
  before landing on the ground. leaving me
  staring at a four-inch wide pipe holewhich was
  now emptying its contents onto my face...think,
  the scene

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• hot Jennifer Beals covered in water...you have a
  5'2" guy drowning in sewage.So...HOT.And
  there...watching me fight off this torrent of
  poopy-caca...My wife...laughing
  hysterically.Like Ernest Borgnine fighting in
  Poseidon...I'm screaming, "GET THE PLUG!!! GET
  THE PLUG!!!"It took three tries to get that
  damn thing in....mainly because my wife was
  busy crying from laughing so hard that she was
  too busy to actually hand me the damn plug.Once
  we got things settled and got the plumbers back,
  we were advised of the following

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• You're not supposed to flush the Flushable Wipes.
  They clog pipes.Oh, they clog pipes, do
  they?No sht.You know how I know that, Mr.
  Plumber? I know that because I look like
  thisFlushable wipes, my ass.Flushable
  wipes that aren't flushable.Consider yourself
  warned.

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WE KNOW WE HAVE A PROBLEMSO WHAT IS THE NEXT
STEP?

• MORE RESEARCH
• DEVELOP PROTOCOLS FOR TESTING FLUSHABILITY OF
  PRODUCTS
• DEVELOP BETTER METHODS FOR CLEARING BLOCKAGES
• DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE DISPOSAL ROUTES FOR THESE
  PRODUCTS
• EDUCATE THE PUBLIC
• WORK WITH THE PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS
• LEGISLATION AS A LAST RESORT

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EXAMPLES

• RESEARCH
• Current Research Projects
• Impact on the Drainage System from Disposable
  Products
• Sustainability of Disposal Routes for Sanitary
  Products
• DEVELOP TESTING PROTOCOLS
• Current Protocol Development
• Development of a Mathematical Model for Physical
  Disintegration of Flushable Consumer Products in
  Wastewater Systems
• Protocols to Assess the Breakdown of Flushable
  Consumer Products-WERF Study
• EDUCATION/CONSUMER OUTREACH
• Television Commercials
• Radio Commercials
• Internet Websites
• Flyers
• Newspaper Articles

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30 Second Television Commercial
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60 SECOND RADIO ADVERTISEMENT
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Flushable products

• Flushable means product goes down the toilet
  and doesnt clog on its way.
• Products can catch on rough surfaces inside iron
  pipes and cause clogs.
• So-called flushable products may confuse people
  into thinking all cloths, disposable or not, are
  flushable.
• There are no truly flushable washcloths.

Brown S, To flush or not to flush
disposable vs. basin bath?, Healthcare Purchasing
News, Sept 2004.
19
Dispersible products

• Dispersible means product dissolves and becomes
  part of water flow.
• Toilet paper is dispersible.
• Sage Products Comfort Personal Cleansing
  products are not flushable or dispersible.

Brown S, To flush or not to flush disposable vs.
basin bath?, Healthcare Purchasing News, Sept
2004.
20
Proper disposal

• DO NOT flush pre-moistened washcloths, towels,
  diapers, etc.
• Flush toilet paper ONLY.
• Do not dispose of non-flushable items
• in bedside commodes.
• Put non-flushable items in the trash.

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Help protect our facility

• Flushing of non-flushable items can cause serious
  plumbing problems.
• Proper disposal is critical to our facilitys
  operations.
• All staff members need to work together to
  encourage proper disposal.This is a house-wide
  issue.

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Educate patients and staff

• Talk to patients and family members about proper
  disposal.
• When using a Comfort Personal Cleansing product,
  remind patients and family members not to flush.
• Display educational materials in patient rooms
  and bathrooms.

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What are the Manufacturers Doing About This
Problem?

• Nothing. Business as usual.
• Some are manufacturing smaller sized wipes (they
  still dont disperse). This requires no new
  equipment or technology.
• Some, like Chlorox and SC Johnson, are actually
  developing a new flushable spunlace wipe that
  have very low wet strength (half of a standard
  flushable). These still are capable of hanging up
  on roots or in pumps or bar screens.
• Others like Kimberly-Clark have developed an
  actual dispersible wipe ( the Cottonelle
  Rollwipe) using a reversible ionic bond for
  strength but which disperses in the toilet.

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Working With The Product Manufacturers

• INDA (Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics
  Industry).
• EDANA (International association serving the
  nonwovens and related industries).
• In 2004 INDA formed a Flushability Task Force and
  embarked on a 2 year study to develop standards
  and guidelines for assessing the flushability of
  products and to develop a test method for the
  approach. Biggest hurdle was arriving at an
  agreed-to definition of flushability.
• The Report entitled WIPES-Nonwoven Industry
  Outlook-Trends and Forecasts for North America
  2008-2013 will be available shortly. You can
  order now at the ridiculously low price of 3000
  for non-members. No hint as what the report
  might say.
• Require warning labels on products, such as
  This product is NOT dispersible. This product
  may cause clogs in obstructed drainlines. This
  product may clog ejector and grinder pumps.
  This product will end up on a screen in the
  wastewater treatment plant.

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LEGISLATION

• This problem is much larger than just a local or
  regional issue. It probably will require national
  attention to address a reasonable solution.
• National Associations such as the Water
  Environment Research Federation (WERF), National
  Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA),
  American Water Works Association (AWWA) will have
  to get involved and lobby heavily for new
  legislation.

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REFERENCES

• Mental Poo Website Blog
• Water Portfolio Website WRc
• The Free Library by Farlex
• The West Seattle Herald newspaper
• SAGE Products, Inc.