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Why should you give up wet wipes?! About proper disposal of the most “repulsive” fractions of solid waste How long does a wet wipe decompose?

Looking ahead. On the proper disposal of the most “repulsive” fractions of solid waste, problematic from an epidemiological and aesthetic point of view

Everything in a person should be beautiful: his face, his clothes, his soul, his thoughts...
A. P. Chekhov

Perhaps someone will accuse the author of an unhealthy interest in unearthing “all kinds of abominations,” of exaggerating a problem that is not so significant compared to other, more significant ones, of cleanliness and “an obsession with cleanliness and hygiene.” But I consider the problem of the “most vile” household waste to be very relevant in modern living conditions. In our poor rich industrial world, in search of physical and spiritual purity, aesthetics and harmony... However, look for yourself.

Introduction
Type 1. Waste hygiene and contraceptive products
Subtype 1.1. Toilet paper
Subtype 1.2. Used feminine hygiene products (pads and tampons)
Subtype 1.3. Baby diapers
Subtype 1.4. Used sanitary napkins (wet, non-woven)
Subtype 1.5. Used contraception (condoms)
Type 2: Used medical products (household medical waste)
Subtype 2.1. Used dressing materials (cotton wool, plaster)
Subtype 2.2. Used syringes (needles) for injections
Subtype 2.3. Other used medical products used on an outpatient basis for various diseases and pathologies
Type 3. Light industrial products and personal hygiene items that have lost their consumer properties
Subtype 3.1. Underwear
Subtype 3.2. Daily dental hygiene and skin care items
Summary

Introduction

From time to time, in the publications of Greenpeace and other environmental public organizations, there are discussions about how carelessly most city residents spend natural resources on their hygiene procedures and level of comfort: long washing in the shower or regular soaking in the bathroom; brushing teeth and shaving with an unforgivably large volume of water leaking out in vain; flushing a full toilet tank when “a little bit could have been done”; wasteful consumption of gas and electricity to achieve room temperatures above standard and much more. Calls to limit consumption in everyday life, sometimes resulting in such extremes as agitation for a “zero” haircut in order to save resources on washing your hair, or refusal of hair removal for women for the same purpose, in my opinion, are rather one-sided. After all, each person not only consumes resources for hygiene and aesthetics, but also produces various biological waste, the further fate of which is not usually worried about, but which, if handled improperly, can pose quite a serious environmental, sanitary and epidemiological hazard and a negative aesthetic impact .
And what is the “aesthetic pleasure” for those involved in the conveyor sorting of waste, which is still carried out at some enterprises? You can often hear that the people working there are degraded, asocial, accustomed to everything and ready to do dirty, low-skilled work for pennies, which they immediately rush to spend on booze. But is it permissible, no matter what the contingent of workers, to create conditions under which the work of processing useful recyclable materials is inextricably linked with the obvious impurities that pollute it? And since a significant part of solid waste can be mixed with extremely unsightly components, the idea is strengthened in people’s minds that “this dirt and infection” should be buried somewhere far away (at a landfill or in a regular landfill), or burned (despite the danger air pollution from combustion products). The presence of used toilet paper alone in the general composition of household garbage is enough for a garbage container to be perceived as something disgustingly dirty and foul-smelling, and not as a container for 80% recyclable secondary raw materials.
The reader, perhaps accusing me of preoccupation with “toilet problems,” will certainly object that spoiled food products can also have a disgusting smell and appearance and pose a sanitary and epidemiological danger. Of course, the problem of organic fractions of solid waste is comprehensively important (in the EU, the ban on the dumping of organic waste in landfills (solid waste landfills) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is enshrined in law - Directive of the European Parliament and the Council 2006/12/EC of April 5, 2006 on Waste) , but the same fecal pollution initially carries a much greater sanitary and epidemiological danger than ordinary food waste, not to mention aesthetic aspects. For example, those few conscientious dog owners who pick up excrement from their pets while walking generally throw this organic “treasure” in a plastic bag into a general trash container or trash can.
Within the framework of the identified problem, I would like to present a classification of the most unpleasant elements of household waste (the problem of which is not only not solved, but, as a rule, is not even highlighted in the framework of consideration of the issue of introducing waste sorting), an analysis of the accepted in Russia and the best possible practices for their neutralization and disposal , a review of foreign practices for handling such problematic waste.
The text turned out to be quite long, therefore, for easier comprehension, it is divided into separate series.

Type 1. Waste hygiene and contraceptive products

Things, or rather, hygiene consumables, from this section are used by everyone to one degree or another, regardless of gender and age. And try to give them up by switching to burdock leaf, lint and sphagnum!

Subtype 1.1. Toilet paper

In Russia...

This “unaesthetic” waste of consumption is perhaps the most widespread of its kind. In the introduction, in order to prepare the reader for the fact that we will not be talking about the most beautiful, but very necessary, I have already given an example of the obvious unaestheticness and sanitary and epidemiological problems of this waste.
In most households with plumbing, used toilet paper goes down the drain and eventually ends up as sludge at a wastewater treatment plant. Perhaps, at the moment this is the most civilized way to dispose of this waste. In St. Petersburg, sludge from wastewater treatment plants is burned using modern equipment. And, although the environmental safety of most incineration technologies today is not at the highest level, for waste containing large amounts of pathogenic microflora, thermal neutralization is often the only acceptable option.
In gardens and dacha lands, as a rule, such waste is openly burned. Of course, this practice introduces a certain amount of pollutants into the atmosphere (nitrogen dioxide, soot and other impurities). But compared to the operation of traditional stove heating systems, as well as the burning of dry leaves and garden trimmings, emissions from burning toilet paper do not seem to be so significant.
In many public non-residential buildings, due to the large number of toilet users (for fear of clogging the sewer line), it is practiced to throw used toilet paper into the trash bin. I believe that I am not alone in my disgust when, entering a public restroom, I see the inscription “Do not throw toilet paper in the toilet!”, and next to this very plumbing device is a trash can filled to the brim with used pipifax. Where will the contents of this bucket go after the “cleaning” staff takes care of maintaining order in the booth? It's not hard to guess what's in the nearby trash container. From where it will most likely be poured into a landfill along with the rest of the “morphological composition of solid waste” and rolled on top by a bulldozer. And then, perhaps, monitoring soil samples will show that the soils in the immediate vicinity of the landfill are contaminated with E. coli and other pathogenic microflora. And the point here is not only and not so much about rats and seagulls, but about people.

But international hygiene product magnate Procter & Gamble is making clear its long-term vision to reduce its environmental impact by using only reusable or recyclable materials in its products and packaging, achieving zero indicator of the amount of consumer waste disposed of by disposal in landfills, reaching a zero indicator of the amount of industrial waste disposed of by disposal of landfills, etc. At the same time, today the lion's share of the products of this company in many countries ends up not only in landfills, but and in unauthorized landfills, mixed with large volumes of unclaimed secondary resources.

Subtype 1.3. Baby diapers

In Russia...

Probably, the current amount of such waste in Russia is quite comparable to the American situation 25 years ago (see below). And this percentage at the source of waste generation (in a container or garbage chute) is quite enough to complicate manual sorting of waste and make some potentially useful raw materials from other fractions unsuitable for processing.
Some particularly child-loving people will object that this type of waste is not so terrible, since it is produced by the “flowers of life”, which are “pure and infallible by definition.” Yes, it is possible that the risk of the spread of dangerous infections in such materials is somewhat lower than in the waste from the previous and subsequent paragraphs. But this does not mean that it does not exist at all. And this whole thing doesn’t “smell” of roses. I had to be convinced of this for certain and repeatedly at volunteer eco-cleaning days, cleaning up “picnic” sites for some uncultured young parents.
And, by the way, diapers are not only for children - if we remember the sad thing - for bedridden patients they are an indispensable means of hygiene.
This type of waste is disposed of in the same way as the previous one (1.2).

Abroad...

American researchers-garbologists (from the English garbage - garbage), who since the early 80s of the 20th century have conducted studies of large city landfills in order to study the morphological composition of waste and their impact on the environment, found that this type of waste, together with plastic fast food packaging and foam packaging constitutes no more than 3% of the total morphological composition of landfills.
The modern handling of baby diapers is similar to the handling of adult hygiene products. It is estimated that in the first 2.5 years of life, a child in developed countries, on average, uses a number of diapers that, in terms of environmental impact, is comparable to covering 2100-3500 km in a gasoline-powered car.
Some manufacturer websites also offer biodegradable (2/3 biodegradable - where the remaining 1/3 goes remains unclear) diapers, touting their dermatological and environmental benefits.

Subtype 1.4. Used sanitary napkins (wet, non-woven)

In Russia...

In the last few years, this product has been represented on the domestic market quite widely. On the shelves of household and hygiene departments of stores there are many colored packages: “wet wipes, refreshing”, “antibacterial”, “make-up remover”, “for intimate hygiene”, etc.
We have to admit that in many cases, when there is no way to properly wash your hands or something else, such consumables can be very convenient (the word “antibacterial” especially warms the soul; for example, after the same eco cleanup, even though you’re wearing gloves, you never know What). But. At every cleaning of recreational areas, these vile pieces of paper-rags, smeared with anything, are often found.
Once brought to the general garbage container, they will add to the overall morphological composition of solid waste a certain proportion, usually of a polymeric composition, contaminated organically and/or bacteriologically.
On the website of domestic manufacturers of such products, only manufacturing details for the customer are indicated and the packaging material is described in some detail: multilayer roll materials such as alumina laminate (paper, aluminum, polyethylene) and combined triplex (PET, aluminum, polyethylene). To make the napkins themselves, two types of material are used: crepe paper or non-woven material, impregnated with an unscented or fragrance-added cleansing lotion.
Obviously, such a composite can be classified as practically non-recyclable waste, taking into account its polycomponent nature, organic and possible bacteriological contamination. There are no special methods for processing and neutralizing this waste.

Abroad...

Not much foreign information could be found about wet wipes. It can only be noted that some manufacturers of wet wipes pay special attention to the biodegradability and environmental safety of their product.

Subtype 1.5. Used contraception (condoms)

In Russia...

This “good” is thrown away, perhaps not as much as a percentage, but on a regular basis. And I am not at all advocating that they should not be used for the sake of reducing the amount of unpleasant waste in the common container. Quite the contrary, it is precisely because of the neglect of basic means of contraception that our society acquires many additional problems. But this study is not about that.
Let's look at the most common and easy-to-use barrier contraceptives - condoms. Most of them are made from latex - a natural material containing the sap of Hevea (a genus of evergreen trees of the Euphorbia family), in other words, natural rubber. There are modifications made from artificial polymers, as well as rubber-based ones (remember “rubber product No. 2”).
Having repeatedly discovered these used products at community cleanups in the forest and on the picturesque shores of the lake, in the bushes (obviously, the romance of the fresh air is attractive, but for some reason many are not able to clean up such piquant garbage), I wondered about their biodegradability. In the vastness of the Runet, information was found only about the environmental friendliness of balloons made of natural latex: “Careful studies have shown that a latex balloon is completely biodegradable in natural conditions in the same time that it takes for the decomposition of an oak leaf.” One blogger spoke in support of these words in a discussion of the component composition of the garbage collected at the cleanup. He said that once, during his student days, he was on duty to maintain cleanliness in the dormitory courtyard. Careless students threw used condoms right out of the windows there. And the one who was authorized to maintain cleanliness, not wanting to get dirty, raked it all into a pile with a fan rake and sprinkled it with autumn leaves. After winter, the unaesthetic garbage disappeared, mixed with rotted leaves.
However, this type of waste, due to its biological content, also falls under the definition of “class B medical waste” specified in SanPiN 2.1.7.2790-10.
In addition, when throwing away such waste in a summer recreation area, packaging made of difficult-to-degrade or practically non-degradable materials adds to the “unaesthetic” quality of this garbage, which clearly indicates the intimate leisure of uncultured fellow citizens present.

Abroad...

Regarding environmentally sound handling of used condoms, some recommendations are given in the English-language article “Common Sense: Condoms and the Environment.” It is strictly not recommended to flush used contraceptives down the drain due to the risk of blockage. Even if clogging does not occur, the used remediate will end up on waste treatment plant screens or in sludge. That is, it will end up in the same composition of solid waste, delivering additional unpleasant emotions to the employees of the water treatment plant, or, having overcome the water outlet, it will pollute the reservoir. Attention is also drawn to the fact that condoms can be biodegradable (latex or calfskin, although, it seems to me, the latter is some kind of archaic exotic) and non-biodegradable (polyurethane and other polymer compositions). The author of the article does not recommend trying to compost biodegradable contraceptives on your own in open spaces, due to the attractiveness of this kind of “treasure” for various animals that will begin to dig up intimate waste. It is considered optimal to wrap the used contraceptive in a piece of toilet paper or paper towel and throw it in the general trash. It is also noted that the packaging of these products is made of plastic and foil, which does not decompose.
Information about how carefully such problematic waste is handled in practice in developed countries is quite general. In Germany, for example, such waste ends up in the so-called. “other waste”, collected in black bins, the contents of which are removed every 2-4 weeks. Apparently, the management of such waste consists of its thermal destruction or burial in specially equipped landfills, depending on the adopted management scheme in a particular area. That is, separately collected recyclable materials in Germany and a number of other developed countries are largely separated from such unsavory waste already at the stage of their formation.
And only in one English-language article devoted to the communal problems of the Indian city of Pune (the city is located 150 km east of Mumbai and has approximately 5 million inhabitants), it was possible to find information about “unsightly” waste as a significant communal problem requiring a special solution. Thus, nine city sludge treatment stations report the problem of large quantities of used condoms entering wastewater treatment plants, especially on weekends and holidays. On average, the number of condoms collected at all water treatment plants per week is about 20,000, which have to be separated from the sludge and sent to a landfill. Representatives of the Pune government's environmental and sanitation departments have announced their intention to formulate a policy for the management of used condoms and sanitary absorbents, which are biomedical waste and should be disposed of separately from other types of household waste.

Type 2: Used medical products (household medical waste)

In Russia...

The rules for handling them are prescribed in the above-mentioned SanPiN 2.1.7.2790-10. These rules are quite general, universal in nature, and also do not take into account the need to introduce the best available technologies in this area. But even the basic requirements for the disposal of hazardous medical waste from medical institutions listed in SanPiN are often met unsatisfactorily: according to various estimates, only 1-3% of healthcare facilities in the Russian Federation have special installations for waste disinfection, other institutions neutralize infected waste using artisanal methods. Often, the total mass of medical waste of different hazard classes, without sufficient pre-treatment, is buried in solid waste landfills or landfills under the guise of low-hazard household waste.

Subtype 2.1. Used dressing materials (cotton wool, plaster)

It should be borne in mind that hazardous medical waste is generated not only in medical institutions. Obviously, even minor household injuries in absolutely or relatively healthy people cause the appearance of class “B” medical waste in a mixed trash bin: cotton wool, bandages, plasters soaked in blood and medicinal and disinfectant ointments. It seems like little things, but it’s unpleasant to find them in the volume of valuable recyclable materials. And if this slightly injured person is sick, say, with hepatitis B, then it’s still not safe.

Subtype 2.2. Used syringes (needles) for injections

There is also a significant contingent of people who constantly have to perform various medical procedures at home, and sometimes outside the home. These are not necessarily elderly bedridden patients. Often these are young, energetic people, teenagers, children, from whose appearance one can hardly guess that they are “awarded” with a baggage of chronic diseases, they live only thanks to replacement therapy with medications and various medical manipulations, carried out so routinely and regularly, as “relatively a healthy person" has the habit of brushing his teeth and taking a shower.
For example, with some diseases (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, various severe pain syndromes, etc.), people are forced to constantly inject themselves with vital medications. Obviously, the most hazardous household waste for individuals requiring such therapy will be injection devices with blood-contaminated needles. There is no need to believe in such a deep consciousness of people, exhausted by their own health problems, which will prompt them to take used materials that fall under the definition of “class B medical waste” for disposal at the nearest or attached health facility. And in almost no health care facility, even if they want to, this opportunity is not provided (remember: only 1-3 (!)% of health care facilities in Russia have the opportunity to safely dispose of highly hazardous and potentially hazardous medical waste on their territory, in accordance with SanPiN).
There is also another, asocial, contingent of people with whom the layman, illiterate in medical matters, primarily associates self-injections. These are, of course, injection drug addicts. It should be noted that waste from drug injections poses a much greater danger than waste from injections of drugs used for various non-communicable diseases (of course, there are also combined forms of diseases), since people who use intravenous drugs are a reservoir of pathogens of hepatitis B, C, D and HIV infections.
How many of you have never seen thin syringes with green rods scattered in the park, on the playground, in the front door...? Sometimes they show up in the mailbox. Never fumble around in a darkened drawer in search of a letter or receipt lying around: you may well stumble upon the needle of a contaminated drug syringe! True, infectious disease researchers have long established the fact that HIV is poorly resistant to environmental conditions and quickly dies outside the human body. However, for the purpose of preventing injection transmission of HIV, it should be assumed that a used syringe or hollow needle (unsterilized) may contain live virus for several days. Other dangerous viruses, such as hepatitis B, are much more resistant to the external environment than HIV. In the external environment at room temperature, the hepatitis B virus can persist for up to several weeks: even in a dried and invisible blood stain, on a razor blade, or the end of a needle.
It is obvious that with possible manual sorting of solid household waste, such inclusions not only cause extremely unpleasant emotions, but can also be very dangerous to health.

Subtype 2.3. Other used medical products used on an outpatient basis for various diseases and pathologies

In this group of waste, one can recall many unpleasant and even shocking objects for a relatively healthy average person. For example, fragments of an IV system, elements of dialysis units used at home, used test strips for determining the level of glucose and other substances in blood and other biological fluids, etc.
At the same time, even the simplest and most common devices, for example, for the treatment of ENT organs (pipettes, spray bottles) can be a source of foreign pathogenic flora.
What about disposable handkerchiefs thrown into the general trash? There you can probably find hosts of unpleasant living creatures from the microcosm: from the simplest ARVI to highly pathogenic influenza and even tuberculosis.
Or, for example, such small-scale waste as contact lenses that have reached the recommended wearing period? It seems to be a negligible waste of polymer material (is there such a thing as negligible waste of regularly produced products?), but at the same time it was in contact with the mucous membrane and lacrimal secretion of a person.
Perhaps, highlighting such waste against the background of other, global, problems with the same waste is “catching fleas” at the current stage of technological development in the field of household waste management. But, on the other hand, it is impossible to deny the sanitary and epidemiological problems of the masses of solid household waste.

Abroad...

I’ll tell you briefly about materials on foreign experience in solving this type of waste problem.
For example, the report "Municipal Solid Waste in the United States" categorizes medical waste generated by households as "other mixed nondurable waste." In 2005, the amount of such waste in the United States amounted to about 4.3 million tons or 1.7% of the total amount of solid waste.
The Colorado Department of Environment and Public Health issued a bulletin in 2005 regarding the management of healthcare waste (including used injection materials) generated in the home. It strongly recommends not throwing such waste into general garbage, but contacting specialized organizations for their disposal (however, it does not say how expensive the disposal of such waste is for citizens and what percentage of the population uses such services). This document also states that, if it is not possible to contact one of the specialized organizations, medical waste (especially those containing sharps, contaminated with blood or other biological materials) should be packaged in some tightly closed container made of thick plastic or tin. At the same time, it is not recommended to use a container made of recyclable material (it is likely that it may be mistakenly sorted at the station), and, if such containers are used, they should be clearly marked with information about the contents with a potential infectious hazard.

Type 3. Light industrial products and personal hygiene items that have lost their consumer properties

Subtype 3.1. Underwear

In Russia...

Such a common element of a woman's wardrobe as nylon tights and other hosiery, as a rule, very quickly loses its consumer properties, simply torn. Sometimes such a product is generally disposable. If you are a woman who at least sometimes wears a skirt outside the summer season, then you will probably remember how sometimes with annoyance you throw new tights or stockings into the trash bin, which accidentally got caught on the furniture the day you removed them from the plastic-cardboard packaging. In Soviet times, nylon products were in short supply and were worn more carefully, and holes and “arrows” were sometimes sewn up several times. In everyday life, their recycling product “reuse” was also popular - knitted dishwashers and door mats made from old tights and stockings cut into strips (Fig. 3.1).

Rice. 3.1. Rug made of nylon tights (

Every day, tons of garbage that has no place there ends up in the sewers of Russian cities. These are wet wipes, cotton swabs, pads and diapers thrown into the toilet, as well as hair, condoms and much more. Catching them from wastewater is not an easy task. Often the habits of Russians turn into big problems for workers in the housing and communal services sector. JSC Mosvodokanal gave Izvestia a tour of the Lyubertsy wastewater treatment plant in the Nekrasovka area in Moscow (LOS). Read more about how their employees are fighting the flow of all kinds of garbage from city apartments in the material.

Toilet instead of trash can

Wastewater goes through three stages: first it flows into the sewerage system and collectors, then it goes to treatment plants and, finally, it returns to rivers and reservoirs. They need to be cleaned to at least a safe level. To do this, solid objects are first removed from the water, and then substances dissolved in it - mainly human waste.

The problems start right away. As a rule, special screens are used for mechanical wastewater treatment. They are also installed at the Lyubertsy wastewater treatment plant. The width of their opening is 6 mm, that is, large debris is retained and removed here.

The grates catch items thrown into the toilet. These are textiles, paper, food waste, wet wipes, cotton swabs, condoms, pads, diapers, tampons, medicine bottles, etc. Occasionally you come across dropped items, such as gold chains and smartphones. All waste is compressed, dehydrated and sent to landfills.

Non-woven wet wipes are one of the two main problems for cleaning equipment. Such objects do not dissolve in water, moreover, they have an elastic structure - they do not tear, but stretch, and can accumulate on the rotating sections of the collector and enter the grids. On average, 20 tons of waste are collected at the VOC per day. A significant part of them are napkins.

The difficulty is that as they pass through the sewer, they clump into clumps. This usually occurs due to hair or threads thrown into the toilet - they intertwine, wrap around napkins, paper, fats, pads and other things and collect them in a pile. When a lump the size of a football comes to the grill, you have to catch it manually - the device cannot cope with it. The operation of the equipment is suspended, the station employees arm themselves with hooks and remove the ball of garbage from the water.

“The Moscow sewerage system includes 8.7 thousand km of sewer networks, 156 pumping stations - with numerous turns, height differences, branches, etc. This is why debris ends up piling up and forming large clumps that then end up on our grates. People throw, for example, napkins and don’t think what will happen next with these napkins,” explained Maxim Kurako, deputy director and chief engineer of the LOS.

The second problem is cotton swabs. When wastewater is cleared of large objects, it goes into sand traps and then into settling tanks. At the first, the water is freed from small mineral impurities - sand, slag, broken glass, pebbles, etc., at the second - from other undissolved substances that settle at the bottom during settling. In theory, there should no longer be any dispersed impurities that do not dissolve in water, since they are retained by the gratings. But they exist - cotton swabs.

The size of these hygiene products is too small to be stopped by the 6mm mesh grilles. They flow further - into sand traps and sedimentation tanks. Here they have to be caught from the surface of the water. What could not be lifted is retained at other stages of cleaning and on small gratings with 1.5 mm gaps.

Kurako noted that Just a few years ago, sewage treatment plant workers did not face this problem. Only in recent years has the number of cotton swabs in sewers increased dramatically. “This didn’t happen. Remember how they used to clean their ears: they took matches, wrapped them in cotton wool, used them, and then threw them into a bucket. Now it has become easier, you don’t need to make the sticks yourself, but they are plastic and do not decompose in water. People throw them into the toilet without thinking about it,” he noted.

Feminine and children's hygiene products also arrive at the VOC in considerable quantities. Although in public places they always warn against throwing them down the toilet, at home citizens are not limited in any way. Unlike cotton swabs and wet wipes, pads, tampons, and diapers also swell significantly in water and increase in size. Even if they pass safely through sewer lines, they can get stuck in pumps and screens of sewage treatment plants and stop their operation. The same applies to condoms - they can fill with water and form bubbles in the pipes.

Like in Europe

According to Kurako, in other civilized countries, people are more conscious of the use of water resources and, in particular, sanitation.“In Europe, wet wipes, cotton swabs, tampons, pads, etc. are not thrown down the toilet. Everything we catch here they throw in the trash. We recently had Germans and North Koreans. When we showed them the bars, they were horrified. They didn’t understand why this was happening, why we allow people to throw such things into the toilet. For them it is a matter of culture and responsibility,” he said.

In Russia, treatment facilities suffer much more from garbage. In some cases, the gratings fail, they have to be stopped, taken out of operation, repaired and parts replaced. All this requires effort and money.

Mosvodokanal strives to talk with the population about this problem whenever possible. For example, the Museum of Water constantly conducts excursions during which children and adults are told, among other things, what they should not throw in the toilet.

An ordinary city dweller, surrounded by the benefits of civilization, rarely thinks that the water in the toilet and the water from the tap are essentially the same. The quality of its cleaning is one of the indicators of the quality of life of the city as a whole, but not only utility workers are involved in this process. We are left wondering what is easier - to shovel tons of garbage at treatment plants, stop the operation of the equipment, manually catch lumps from napkins, hair and pads, spend money on repairs and purchase damaged parts, or put a trash can in the toilet.

Over the past decade, the wet wipes industry has been thriving with manufacturers offering an ever-wider range of wipes: baby wipes, medical wipes, antibacterial wipes, sensitive skin wipes, makeup remover wipes, household wipes, furniture wipes, and more. The harm of disposable products is now becoming more and more noticeable.

All of them are designed to be used only once and, as a result, create a large amount of waste in the environment. Let's look at the reasons why you should abandon wet wipes.

1. Enormous harm to the environment

Every year we produce as much plastic as all the people on the planet weigh! About half of these plastic products are single-use products such as wipes.

Wet wipes, used to cleanse skin and remove makeup, are made from synthetic substances such as plastic or polyester and take decades to biodegrade.

So, in the field of tourism this is a very pressing problem, because... Many tourists, in particular women, relieve themselves directly in nature, using disposable napkins and pads, often simply throwing them on the ground, leaving behind a long-lasting and unpleasant mark. Please, dear girls and women, pay attention to this and try not to be one of such people!

So manufacturers will either have to develop plastic-free wipes, or consumers will have to go without.

2. Sewer blockage

According to Water UK, the trade body representing all the major water and sewerage companies in Britain, the 11 billion wet wipes used in this country every year are responsible for 93% of blockages in Britain's sewers and are even changing the shape of rivers when they accumulate at the bottom. and on the banks. In July 2019 alone, 23,000 wet wipes were found along the banks of the River Thames in Barnes, southwest London. This was within two hours of a volunteer clean-up organized by Thames21. These are mainly baby wipes, but also those that were used to remove makeup and various surfaces. The remaining 7% came from a range of other materials, including feminine hygiene products, cotton pads and plastic wrappers.

This has prompted government and industry to focus on convincing consumers not to dump them into wastewater systems, and to get people to stop using them and treat them like any other single-use plastic.

3. A large number of toxic chemical components

Wet wipes are non-woven materials bonded together using resins, chemicals or high pressure. This prevents them from breaking easily when wiped with force, such as when wiping a stubborn stain off a table. It's also worth noting that all disposable wipes require large amounts of preservatives, such as parabens and formaldehyde, to prevent the growth of bacteria, viruses, mold and mildew. These ingredients are toxic and carcinogenic to wildlife, marine life and people.

Baby wipes are causing painful red rashes in some children, according to new research.

Researchers have found that a chemical preservative called methylisothiazolinone (MI) in the wipes causes an allergic reaction in some children. MI is a preservative designed to extend shelf life and has no beneficial properties for product users. The chemical has been blamed for a huge rise in dangerous allergic reactions. Thus, five children were taken to the medical center with rashes. In each case, the rash disappeared as soon as the children were no longer cleaned with baby wipes.

4. Huge harm to marine life

Most disposable wipes contain plastic fibers, which over time turn into microplastics that are harmful to marine life and the Earth's food chain.

8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year. Wipes make up a large and growing segment of this number. When the wipes end up in the ocean, they are ingested by many sea creatures, such as turtles, who mistake them for jellyfish and eventually die. (The same thing happens with plastic bags.)

Conclusion:

Wet wipes are harmful to the environment, city sewerage and human health. It seems, good old soap and water is a much better alternative!

What do you think?

Below you can see how to prepare ecological detergents with your own hands.

Incredible facts

The toilet is a part of our daily life.

Some of us use it for its intended purpose, while others use it as an additional trash can.

Of course, it is difficult to resist the temptation to flush something unnecessary down the toilet and forget about it forever.

However, the toilet and drain treatment system is not designed to handle anything other than toilet paper.

What items should not be flushed down the toilet, and what problems can this cause?

Can I flush this down the toilet?

Wet wipes are a fairly popular hygiene item. Although some manufacturers claim that they can be flushed like toilet paper, these wipes create clogs and clog drains.

Many people don't want to throw wet wipes into the trash if they are using them for hygiene purposes. However, the fibers in wet wipes are much thicker than toilet paper, and they do not dissolve in water.

They seem quite small and thin, but this latex product can contribute to the formation of so-called grease plugs in the drains. In addition, these products inflate easily, and if the condom is tied, it can fill with water and simply block the drain.

They are made of cotton, you think. In addition, they look very tiny and are unlikely to clog the pipes. Believe me, this is not true. Over time, they simply accumulate in the bends of the pipes, causing massive blockages.

Do you need extra medications? Many people choose to protect themselves or their household by flushing medications down the toilet. However, this habit is very dangerous.

Complex biological processes of breakdown of waste products occur in the sewer system, and medications interfere with these processes.

Antibacterial drugs create microbes that are resistant to antibiotics, enter reservoirs, lakes, rivers and seas and have a detrimental effect on the inhabitants of the water, and subsequently on humans.

Paper towels are much stiffer than toilet paper and do not dissolve in water as easily as toilet paper. Some types of paper towels are so strong they can hold a bowling ball, and even biodegradable types can cause major clogs.

Not only do they look unsightly when they float in the toilet water, but they also contain many toxic chemicals, including tar and nicotine, which then end up in the plumbing and end up in our water.

Adhesive plasters are made of plastic that does not biodegrade in the environment.

They also have the property of sticking to other objects in the sewer, and small lumps immediately turn into huge clogs. Throw them in the trash, that's where they belong.

Is it okay to throw this down the toilet?

From the outside it seems that it is just a thin thread, but it does not decompose. In addition, it also has one bad property.

When you flush it, it gets wrapped around other items in the drain, resulting in you having to call a plumber because of the clump that forms.

Almost all of us have flushed the fat remaining after cooking down the toilet, but this is a very bad habit. When the grease is hot, it looks like a liquid, but as soon as the greasy product enters the drain, it cools and solidifies, turning into a lump of fat that clogs the pipes.

Over time, the hole in the pipe will become narrower and narrower until there is nothing going through it at all.

Although you may think that litter has a place in the toilet, it should not be flushed down the toilet.

Just because your baby pooped in his diaper doesn't mean you can throw it in the toilet. Diapers contain toxic plastic that swells when exposed to water.

The chances of it slipping down the drain pipe are very low, and as a result, you will have to call a professional to remove the clog.

There's a good reason why you often see warnings against throwing feminine hygiene products down the toilet.

These hygiene items have absorbent properties and can expand in size, making it difficult to pass through the pipe. In addition, the material from which they are made does not decompose.

Oddly enough, although hair seems natural to us, it can play a cruel joke on your pipes.

Not only do they clog the drain, but they also trap other items, leading to unpleasant odors and slow drainage.

It seems that a few hairs falling into the toilet should not cause serious problems, but they tend to accumulate.

Is it possible to flush toilet paper down the toilet?

Toilet paper can sometimes cause a clogged toilet. This applies primarily to older, harsher types of toilet paper. Modern toilet paper typically dissolves in water and can be thrown into the toilet.

When is it okay to throw away toilet paper?

If the toilet is connected to the central sewer system of an apartment building

If the toilet is connected to a local sewerage system that has a short route, where it is dissolved using active septic tanks.

When should you not throw toilet paper down the toilet?

The paper ends up in a storage tank and does not go straight down the drain.

The local sewer contains twists and turns on the way to the reservoir

The diameter of the sewer pipe is small (less than 10 cm) and the length of the pipe is more than 5 meters.

Wet wipes are convenient and make life easier. They are especially appreciated by travelers and parents of small children. But such napkins are not at all environmentally friendly - they are practically not recyclable.

Wet wipes, which appeared in the 70s of the last century as a means of hygiene for babies, certainly made life much easier for parents. Thanks to them, you don’t have to worry if your child gets dirty on a walk, throws a toy on the dirty ground, or wants to eat the fruit he just bought. Over time, their convenience was appreciated by people of different ages and occupations. They are used to remove makeup, when traveling, for antibacterial purposes and in the household.

Even astronauts on the ISS use wet wipes to protect themselves from radiation during solar flares. According to Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev, during magnetic storms, packs of wet wipes are placed along the walls of cabins - they, like any wet object, reduce the amount of absorbed radiation.

Maybe in the case of radiation, wipes really do save, but in most cases people use them even when they can simply wash their hands with soap.

The Marine Conservation Society estimates there are around 27 wipes for every 100 meters of UK beach.

Some of them are washed into the sea and end up in the stomachs of marine animals, which mistake the tissue for jellyfish.

In this case, napkins are made from a mixture of synthetic cellulose and plastic fibers, impregnated with a solution of chemical ingredients, including softeners, fragrances, preservatives and antibacterial agents. With this composition, wipes do not biodegrade, so they cannot be flushed or composted. However, many people throw them down the toilet, which causes clogged drains.

When they end up in landfills, they dry out and become so light that they fly off at the slightest breath of wind. As a result, along with bags, wet wipes litter the entire space around the landfills.

In addition, artificial fragrances and antibacterial agents that impregnate the fabric poison the soil.

At the same time, wet wipes are very difficult to recycle, so even in countries with a developed system of separate waste collection, they are sent to general containers for non-recyclable waste.

However, there are exceptions: special technological lines capable of successfully processing waste of used wet wipes.

For example, Textstream Group of Companies in Ivanovo declares its readiness to buy waste wet wipes and then process them into regenerated fiber.

If it is not possible to recycle napkins, you need to pay attention when purchasing that they are made from natural fibers. A number of manufacturers - including Natracare, CannyMum and others - have opted for a material that, when released into the natural environment, easily turns into compost.

In addition, they add a minimum of preservatives and fragrances to the wipes, which makes the products even safer for the environment. Such napkins even feel different from ordinary ones - they are more like wet paper than fabric, they tear more easily, but they also decompose more easily.

Another eco-friendly alternative could be a germicidal lotion or gel that is easy to wipe your hands with while walking.

You can even make your own reusable wet wipes. To do this, you will need pieces of soft fabric such as flannel, olive oil, Castile soap and essential oil.

Pour a tablespoon of oil and soap into a glass of warm boiled water and add a few drops of essential oil for aroma. Stir the mixture and pour into the fabric. After 10-15 minutes, drain the excess liquid and place the napkins in a storage container. Such pieces of fabric can easily replace wet wipes, and after use they can be washed and re-soaked in the solution. You can also make disposable napkins by replacing the fabric with a roll of paper towels.

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