Water UK to launch a national Bin The Wipe campaign

Water UK is to launch a blockage-busting campaign in the new year, urging people to stop flushing wipes down the loo.

The Bin The Wipe campaign was previewed at a Parliamentary event last week attended by MPs including Fleur Anderson, whose Private Members’ Bill is calling for plastic to be removed from wet wipes.

The pre-launch campaign website uses stark black, white and red imagery (very distinct from typical water industry communications) to stress that flushing wipes leads to blockages which cause flooding, pollution and danger to wildlife. It does not tell people to stop using wipes, simply to bin rather than flush them.

Water UK said Bin The Wipe will be the biggest ever campaign of its kind in the UK. There are approximately 300,000 sewer blockages annually, costing the country £100m. Over 90% of the matter in sewer blockages are wet wipes and other unflushables.