Moms around the country may have cheered when they first discovered the time saving convenience of baby wipes, also known as flushable baby tissues or moist tissue wipes. But a recent news report done by All In With Chris Hayes that aired on MSNBC are warning mothers that their use of baby wipes is wrecking havoc with the nation’s sanitary and waste treatment systems.
Although the marketers of these types of baby care products emphasize their convenience and insist that they can be safely flushed down the toilet, interviews with waste management experts are showing what really happens when someone flushes a baby wipe and it enters the city’s sewer system.
Unlike toilet tissue, baby wipes do not disintegrate as they travel through the sewer system. Rather, they collect on the sewer system equipment, causing back-ups and costly jams. With nearly 20 billion baby wipes sold in 2013 alone, 9 million of those in the moist tissue category, waste management processing plants are having one devil of a time dealing with the messy sludge that results because product manufacturers have encouraged moms and dads to simply flush the wipe down the toilet without giving it a second thought.
This recent report clearly shows that baby wipes should best be discarded into the waste can rather than flushed into the sewer system, where they are causing a unique set of headaches for waste management officials in cities around the country.