Baby wipes have become a part of our children’s daily life. It is for cleaning the child’s buttocks. The good thing about these wipes is that they’re wet, making it easy to clean the baby.
It is a norm for parents to carry these baby wipes along with the baby everywhere. Besides, most adults clean themselves with it after visiting the toilet.
Many manufacturers of baby wipes often describe the product as biodegradable. With this, many people are of the opinion that baby wipes can be disposed of in their flushing toilet.
But can you flush baby wipes or dump them in the bin after each use?
Can You Flush Baby Wipes Down the Toilet?
Imagine yourself alone in the toilet with a messy baby wipe. Your main aim is how to dispose of it. To be honest, can you flush baby wipes down the toilet? This is tough right? But, don’t do it.
The issue isn’t about dumping the wet pipes in your toilet. It’ll disappear within minutes of flushing the toilet. But does it end there? No. Baby wipes cause clogging as they move through the pipes.
So, how does the clogging happen? Here is it.
Pipes that are of concrete, iron, and clay tend to harbor tree roots. These tree roots often grow at the joints of the pipes. The roots form tiny clogs as they spread to other parts of the pipe. They cause things like baby wipes that do not dissolve quickly to clog in the pipe.
The best thing is to avoid flushing baby wipes down the toilet. Better still, use a toilet paper.
Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Flush Baby Wipes
Toilet papers will dissolve within minutes or at most a day. But we cannot say the same for a baby wipe. In fact, some baby wipes can stay for months in the pipes before they dissolve. This means your sewage system can stop working anytime.
Sometimes the baby wipes pass through the sewage system without problems. The truth is the recycle plant will suffer in the end. The fibrous baby wipes cause the pumps to work beyond their capacity. Since they do more work, the pumps get overheated and damaged over time.
These pumps are expensive to repair or replace an you may have to get a toilet repair kit for this purpose. It is the duty of the taxpayers to bear the cost each time it’s damaged.
Do you still consider the option of flushing baby wipes down toilet? To be on the safe side, don’t flush them even if you have the best macerating upflush toilet.
If you’re still thinking about what to flush down your toilet, do remember it’s your waste and toilet paper only.
Impact of the Wet Wipe Issues
Dumping of baby wipes in the toilet is one of the major causes of sewage blockage in the world. The dishonesty on the part of the companies is the reason for the increase in the problem.
Flushing baby wipes create environmental hazards, pipe blockages, and economic losses.
1. Environmental Hazard
Wet baby wipes take a longer time to dissolve. They’re stiffer than ordinary toilet papers and won’t breakdown. Some of the chemicals used in manufacturing these baby wipes are harmful.
Yet, wet baby wipes contribute to the increase in non-biodegradable waste products. If they get past the sewage treatment plants, they’ll be dumped in the rivers and ocean. This will create serious harm to the water bodies.
2. Pipe Blockages
Another negative impact of flushing the baby wipes down the toilet is pipe blockages. Even plumbers frown at the thought of removing baby wipes from the pipes.
Since the wet baby wipes don’t dissolve easily in the pipes, they prevent the flow of other waste products. Now, you’ll need to place a call on the plumber. Since it’s a difficult job for the plumber, be ready to pay the heavy bills.
The Impact on Your Home
At least you have the idea about the problems it creates on your home plumbing system. Still, flushing baby wipes blocks your drain sooner or later. What does this mean?
This means you’ll have to deal with the stench that comes from the pipes. They often infest every outlet in your kitchen, toilet, and bathroom. That’s not all, you’ll bear the cost of getting the baby wipes out. You’ll pay for the cleaning of the floors and repairs of other damages.
Innocent persons are into paying for the problems in the sewage system. This is through utility bills. The amount paid by individuals to the utility companies tends to increase each year. This is because of the increasing incidence of flushing of baby wipes.
What to Do With the Wet Baby Wipes?
Since baby wipes cannot be flushed down the toilet, how can you dispose of it? The best you can do is to dump it in the trash can. If you’re uncomfortable with the trash can, get a can with a lid cover.
Besides, you can opt for baby wipes that your plumber recommends being flushable. Since it’s difficult to trust these baby wipe manufacturers you should avoid flushing it.
Getting a trash bin is cheaper than paying a plumber to reopen your blocked sewer.
Contact a Plumber to Solve the Plumbing Problem
So, what do you do when your plumbing system fails? The only option is calling the plumber. It’s possible that you’re unaware of what causes the blockage. But if you’ve been flushing the baby wipes down the toilet, now you know better.
Since it’s only the plumber that can save you now. Your prayers should be that the fault isn’t too bad. If the repair task is much, you’ll pay more.
Conclusion
Flushing baby wipes in your high-end toilet causes more problem to the sewage system. This problem has increased globally. This is because of the dishonesty in the part of the baby wipe companies.
Most of these companies claim that you can flush baby wipes in the toilet. But, they will get stuck in the pipes. This clog takes a huge amount of money for repairs.
Now, can you flush baby wipes and hire a plumber when the system fails? It’s No. The only way to avoid these economic and environmental problems is getting a trash can.
You’re free to use the baby wipes as you desire. But don’t attempt to flush it down the toilet.
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