Yorkshire Water targets Leeds residents over flushing wet wipes down the toilet

This is the reason why Yorkshire Water chiefs are calling on customers not to throw their wet wipes down the toilet.
Yorkshire Water is calling on wipe companies to do more to encourage customers to throw wipes in the bin and not the toilet.Yorkshire Water is calling on wipe companies to do more to encourage customers to throw wipes in the bin and not the toilet.
Yorkshire Water is calling on wipe companies to do more to encourage customers to throw wipes in the bin and not the toilet.

The utility firm has said it is called out to more than 30,000 sewer blockages every year, costing £2.4million with 40 per cent of incidents caused by wipes.

And residents in Leeds are set to be targeted by the firm after the city was branded a hotspot area where wipes are the biggest cause of regular sewer blockages.

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Wipes are the most convenient way to remove make up and clean up after a dirty nappy. Although some are labelled as flushable, wipes which contain plastic do not break down in the sewers like toilet paper, meaning they can cause pipes to block and waste water to come back up through toilets and sinks.

Yorkshire Water is launching a new customer awareness campaign to raise awareness of the problem that flushing wipes can cause.

As well as asking customers to ‘stop flushing’ Yorkshire Water is also calling on companies who produce the wipes to help them get the message across.

Customer service manager at Yorkshire Water, Tom Phillips said: “Flushing wipes down the toilet can have horrible repercussions to our customers’ homes. They do not break down and can quickly build up, causing blockages which are not only unpleasant but can cost homeowners a lot of time and money to clear up.

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“There’s a simple rule for things you should flush down the toilet; stick to the three Ps – pee, poo and paper. Many supermarkets are proactive and have warnings on the packaging, however a lot of the major brands show little in the way of advice on how to dispose of wipes leaving many customers unaware of the consequences of flushing wipes down the toilet.

Mr Philips added: “We would like wet wipe manufacturers to increase the prominence of the ‘no flushing’ symbol on their packaging and let their customers know that wipes can cause blockages.”