The flushable wipes controversy has been going on for quite sometime. If you moisten a single sheet of toilet paper and rub it on your skin or a hard surface, you'll discover it rapidly falls apart. This is by design. You want toilet paper to disintegrate as fast as possible into the tiny cellulose fibers used to create it.
Try the same experiment with a decent quality paper towel. You'll notice that the paper towel tends to hold up and not fall apart. Once again, this is by design. The paper towel manufacturer wants you to be able to use them to clean up spills and do light-duty cleaning. Never flush paper towels down a toilet.
Finally, do the same test with a flushable wipe. you'll quickly discover they hold together better than paper towels. Can you imagine what happens if there's not enough water to transport these through your in-house building drain and outside buried sewer line out to your septic? At some point, you'll get a clog. Worst case they didn't disintegrate, and they burn up your septic pump!
"We're finding that manufacturers are using very strong binders for these products and we're also finding some are made of plastic." said Anum Khan, research assistant, Ryerson University.
Other items that fall into the "unflushable" category include dental floss, hair, feminine hygiene products, condoms and used medications.
And don't be fooled by labels. Even if the packaging on wipes says flushable, they should be thrown out.
There's no legal definition in Canada for the word flushable so whether these products are labeled flushable or not they belong in the garbage.
The only thing that should be going down your toilet is human waste and toilet paper.
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