Wet wipe island the size of two tennis courts ‘changes course of River Thames’

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The build-up of discarded wet wipes in the river running through London has altered the course of the river after forming its own island as a result. The government is now looking at slapping a country-wide ban on the items due to the environmental hazards they are causing when they are erroneously flushed down the toilet.

Wet wipes should be disposed off in normal waste and not flushed away.**

Labour MP Fleur Anderson said: “There’s an island the size of two tennis courts and I’ve been and stood on it.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, she continued: “It’s near Hammersmith Bridge in the Thames and it’s a metre deep or more in places of just wet wipes.

“It’s actually changed the course of the Thames.”

Wet wipes are said to constitute 90 percent of the material found in ‘fatbergs’ – enormous balls of grease and household waste that have blighted British sewers for years, according to the water industry.

Rebecca Pow, the environment minister, warned wet wipes should be avoided unless really necessary and never flushed down the toilet.

The popular items are thought to block sewers and worsen river pollution.

The government is said to be considering a ban on wet wipes containing plastic in a bid to cut down on the pollution caused by them.

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But Rebecca Pow has warned that a ban on certain types of wet wipes could have other consequences if people continue flushing non-plastic varieties.

She said: “What I would say to everybody is if you don’t need to use a wet wipe, don’t, but also don’t chuck them down the loo.”

According to sonar and laser scans of the riverbed, the metre-high mass of wet wipes on the banks of the Thames has grown to the size of two tennis courts.

While the water industry has backed a ‘fine to flush’ standard, it only applies to wipes that are intended to be a replacement for toilet paper, including baby wipes.

But some have said this can cause confusion about how to dispose of other wipes, including make-up wipes, which will not specify whether they can be flushed and are often advertised as biodegradable.

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Fleur Anderson said current packaging was “very confusing for the public” and that people “want to do the right thing”.

She challenged MP Rebecca Pow and urged the government to move forward with banning plastic in wet wipes.

Around 90 percent of the 11 billion wet wipes flushed every year contain plastic, with these often ending up in rivers and on beaches.

Ms Anderson called on retailers to follow the likes of Boots and Tesco who have introduced plastic-free alternatives.

“There’s a lack of awareness that flushing them down, they don’t disintegrate, they do stay in the system for a long time. They do go out to the sea, they go on the banks of the Thames,” she said. There are 30,000 blockages a year because of wet wipes … that costs us money in our water bills.”

She also warned that wet wipes were causing marine damage, killing fish as they swallow them.





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