Summary:
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According to Water UK, representing the water industry, wet wipes flushed down toilets cause 93% of sewage obstructions, including so-called fatbergs, and cost almost £100 million a year to clear up.
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In 2021, almost 90% of wipes contained plastic, even though various alternatives were already available.
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The environmental organisation, River Action UK, states that the government has been “asleep at the wheel” for several years.
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Water firms support a ban because they spend millions of dollars removing bottlenecks brought on by wet wipes.
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According to the Green Party, the water business will be left to private companies that can benefit from failure.
After a consultation, the prohibition on wipes made of plastic should go into effect the following year, according to Ms Coffey.
In England, where no river or waterway is regarded as pure, it is a component of a more significant effort to enhance water quality.
However, the idea was criticised as being inadequate by opponents and environmental groups.
According to Water UK, representing the water industry, wet wipes flushed down toilets cause 93% of sewage obstructions, including so-called fatbergs, and cost almost £100 million a year to clear up.
In 2021, almost 90% of wipes contained plastic, even though various alternatives were already available. The wipes eventually catch and clump together due to the plastics’ inability to degrade, which prevents sewage from flowing through pipes.
Wet wipes would be prohibited from containing plastic, Ms Coffey said to BBC News, adding that a brief consultation was required beforehand. To ensure that we can implement any restriction, she stated, “It’s a legal obligation.”
The government first announced its intentions to stop producing plastic garbage, including wet wipes, in 2018. 96% of respondents to a government consultation in 2021 who supported banning wet wipes said so. The government decided against outlawing wet wipes earlier this year after additional consultation.
Wales has not yet implemented a promised ban on plastic in wet wipes. The Scottish government held consultations regarding a ban but did not move forward.
Wet wipes that include plastic are no longer sold in some stores, including those run by Boots and Tesco.
The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), which seeks to enhance England’s water quality, has adopted a more comprehensive policy known as Plan for Water that includes the wet wipes ban. It addresses farmland pollution and road runoff, which may result in a ban on some PFASs, or so-called “forever chemicals.”
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Water providers that discharge sewage might face indefinite fines.
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Publicly funded researchers work to clean up waterways
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How come raw sewage is pumped into the ocean?
According to a legislative report from 2022, pollution from intensive farming, namely from chicken farms, is the most typical way waterways get affected.
The government declared on Sunday that water providers could be hit with unlimited fines for willfully discharging untreated sewage into rivers and oceans. According to statistics, 825 sewage overflows into England’s rivers on average each day occurred in the past year.
The environmental organisation, River Action UK, states that the government has been “asleep at the wheel” for several years. It has allowed rivers to “fill up with untreated human sewage and hazardous agricultural pollutants.”
CEO Charles Watson questioned how Defra could declare “stronger regulation and harder enforcement” because the government has not pledged to finance statutory environmental protection organisations adequately.
Water firms support a ban because they spend millions of dollars removing bottlenecks brought on by wet wipes.
According to Yorkshire Water, it supported the planned ban; wipes are Yorkshire’s primary source of blockages and will account for over half of them in 2022.
Opposition political parties criticised the government’s initiatives as too little or too late.
Jim McMahon MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, criticised the statement as little more than a “rearranging of deck chairs” and a “reheating of old, failing measures that merely give the green light for sewage dumping to continue for decades to come.”
“During the summer, there have been three fraudulent Tory water plans. Nothing in it explains when, how, or how they intend to end the Tory sewage issue, “Added he.
Tim Farron, a spokesman for the Liberal Democrats on the environment, described the news as “a complete farce.”
“By re-announcing a wet wipe policy from five years ago, the conservative government is again misleading the people. The administration does nothing except speak, “added said.
According to the Green Party, the water business will be left to private companies that can benefit from failure.
According to Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party, “The Green Party wants to see the system change, with our water supply placed back into public hands at the earliest practical moment.”
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