
Wet Wipes Box Says Flush, New York’s Sewer System Says Don’t - prostoalex
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/nyregion/the-wet-wipes-box-says-flush-but-the-new-york-city-sewer-system-says-dont.html
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graeme
The new york times article wasn't very clear about how people are using them.
So I'll spell it out: adults are using these wet wipes instead of toilet
paper. That's why so many are entering sewage systems.

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WizzleKake
Regular toilet paper seems absolutely barbaric after one has become accustomed
to wet wipes. Try them and you will understand.

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debaserab2
Wait until you try a bidet. Any form of wiping will seem like savagery
afterwards.

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yawaramin
I've lived in three different countries in Asia. Have always had a mini-shower
or at least a piped jet of water beside the toilet to help clean up. North
America has the most bass-ackwards wiping convention I've ever seen.

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chetanahuja
Most of Asia believes in washing, not wiping. There's nothing easier to flush
than water and no better way to clean yourself. Being expected to wipe
yourself with a thin piece of paper and consider the job done was among the
bigger culture shocks when I first moved to the US.

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morkfromork
Does a bidet use more or less water than wiping?

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y4mi
urm, how does one use water with wiping?

to answer your question: you use more water but significantly less paper (you
still need some with a bidet to dry yourself)

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DanBC
Water is used in creating the paper.

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wahsd
I wish our society would start holding companies responsible for the costs
like this. They externalize the costs to society and it should not be
tolerated and it should even be illegal to knowingly externalize costs without
offering to pay for the impact. It is really tantamount to theft of public
resources.

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ahoge
Bidets and washlets are the more economical option anyways. Wet wipes aren't
cheap. Even if you spend $250+ on a somewhat fancier "warm water cleaning
toilet seat", you'll break-even in no time.

That's even true if you use regular toilet paper, because you'll need a lot
less of that.

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themodelplumber
> Web wipes aren't cheap.

Asterisk-mart sells 48 sheets for $4. If you go macro first with regular TP
and thus use one wipe per session, folding it over as needed for coverage,
let's say you max out at $6 worth of wipes for a month because you don't know
you're sensitive to gluten yet and you also wipe up some cat vomit every few
days.

That's still only $72 a year, man.

Now: How many bathrooms does your house have? Let's say you have two bathrooms
and want to use both. $500 on toilet seats? Better hope you're not a 300
pounder who rocks back and forth a bit when he's in a hurry, cuz you don't get
Apple Care with those seats I'll bet.

If you travel every once in a while, or need to use bathrooms at work, there's
that factor too.

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beedogs
> If you travel every once in a while, or need to use bathrooms at work,
> there's that factor too.

If I catch someone traipsing to the restroom with a box of wet wipes under
their arm, they're not going to make it without being made fun of. Sorry,
princess, but your anus isn't really all that special.

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CodeMage
Yes, it is. When you've had recurring perianal abscess and/or a fistulotomy,
you'll also want to take every care possible when it comes to Uranus.

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timv
Here's a couple of articles about the impact on Australian sewerage systems,
with similar comments about needing to regulate the "flushable" label.

[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/wet-wipes-
blocking...](http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/wet-wipes-blocking-
sydney-sewers-as-more-men-flush-them-down-the-toilet/story-
fnpn118l-1227146843427)

[http://www.pumpindustry.com.au/luxury-wet-wipes-wreak-
havoc-...](http://www.pumpindustry.com.au/luxury-wet-wipes-wreak-
havoc-2/6154/)

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pdq
Why don't they make degradable/dissolvable wet wipes then? Maybe some pre-
moistened quad-ply toilet paper? I can't think of a reason the current wet
wipes need to be virtually tear-proof.

~~~
ams6110
Ordinary toilet paper disintegrates quickly when wet, by design. Pre-moistened
wipes made of toilet paper would just be a box full of pulp when opened.
That's the problem with the wipes, they don't fall apart when they are wet so
they clog up the sewer systems.

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nordsieck
One of the big problems in the sewers is that the wet wipes combine with
various sorts of fat.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23586290](http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23586290)

It looks to me like the oil and wet wipes combination is substantially less
likely to break down than either individually.

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Theodores
I live near to where the legendary 'Fatberg' was found and, after reading this
article, I would not be surprised if a more accurate name for the 'Fatberg'
was 'Wet Wipe Berg'. The 'Fatberg' concept is new in the story of sewer
blockages yet people have been using less fat in their cooking rather than
more. Ready meals and microwave ovens have cut the amount of greasy fry-ups.
What has changed is the wet wipe. Crucially the wet wipe is marketed
differently nowadays. You can get a pack of 100 bathroom wipes that are larger
than the original branded Wet Wipes and have people use 1-2 of them every time
they want to use the seat just in cleaning that seat. As far as the consumer
is concerned, flushable means it goes over the U-bend. If the packaging didn't
state it was flushable then most people wouldn't flush these overgrown 'Wet
Wipes'. Simple solution - don't have any products be sold as 'flushable',
ever.

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Tiktaalik
Similarly I found out that Metro Vancouver's food scraps recycling system
can't handle "compostable" plastic bags, though these bags are sold
everywhere. Shouldn't the region be putting pressure on grocers to stop
selling these products?

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sergers
Here is a article about samething but in Canada. Also touches on the issue in
Washington state and new York.

Article also from 2013... So I guess the problems only worsened?
[http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/flushable-wipes-clogging-
can...](http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/flushable-wipes-clogging-canadian-
sewers-waste-water-officials-say-1.2430071)

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TazeTSchnitzel
The solution I'd suggest: mandate sticking warnings on all wet wipes sold in
New York. Retailers or manufacturers must then add stickers or something to
comply.

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giarc
That won't stop many people from buying them.

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judk
You'll never stop jerks being jerks. But you can clue in the clueless

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dang
Url changed from [http://qz.com/362361/wet-wipes-are-wreaking-havoc-on-our-
sew...](http://qz.com/362361/wet-wipes-are-wreaking-havoc-on-our-sewers/),
which points to this.

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prostoalex
Thanks, any time a nytimes.com or wsj.com article is involved, I'm never sure
if people can see the article or face the paywall.

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viggity
if you google the title of the article, then click on the first result, you'll
bypass the WSJ paywall. IIRC, it works for the times, too, but not 100% sure.

