Don’t flush anything but toilet paper.

The other day when I went to pick up my daughter from daycare she had to go to the bathroom before we left so as usual the teacher took her into the bathroom to help her go. I happened to peek over the ½ door to see how she was doing only to be shocked that the teacher was wiping her with one of her baby wipes and then throwing it in the toilet to flush it down. They ARE NOT flushable and who knows how many of these daycares are doing the same thing day in and day out. Think about it…this rather large daycare may have at least 3 rooms of potty training kids with 4 or 5 kids per room and a potential total of 5 trips to the bathroom per child per day. Then multiply that number times the number of daycares in our country. That’s A LOT of wipes going into a system that isn’t built for them!

We can’t tell you how many plumbing calls we get that were caused by flushing “flushable” wipes. Manufacturers of these premoistened cloths claim that they are good for flushing and that they will break down like toilet paper. The fact is that they don’t and this industry is bringing in $5 billion a year, but is costing municipalities millions and homeowners thousands to try to handle.

“Flushable” wipes bunch up and cause plumbing problems across the nation.

As NBC Washington noted in their recent story, local municipalities are being forced to either bring in additional manpower or install new equipment to break down and dispose of these wipes. These aren’t the only culprits though. Renters and homeowners alike are flushing everything from Q-Tips to dusting and cleaning cloths that aren’t meant to be put in the toilet causing even more of a problem.

Why is this such a big problem? Add up the costs of municipalities across the country spending millions to handle these wipes and the costs homeowners and real estate investors spend clearing pipes from stuff that doesn’t even make it out of the property. Where do you think that municipalities get the money to pay for this additional manpower and equipment? Look in the mirror. That’s your tax dollars and bills at work.

Check out the NBC Washington news story “Wipes in the Pipes” and share your thoughts and stories with us. Have you experienced problems as a result of these unflushable “flushable” wipes? If you are a landlord, how are you handling this issue with your tenants?