Millions of wet-wipes are flushed into UK rivers and are making the headlines on morning TV pic.twitter.com/CUqyHZlprE   One wonders whether the consumer labelling route is going to be enough to solve this problem.  Bob Earll

MCS: Leading retailers not embracing new wet wipe ‘flushability’ standard

Own-brand wipes can’t carry new ‘Fine to Flush’ logo because they’re unflushable, says Marine Conservation Society. The UK’s leading marine conservation charity says that own-brand ‘flushable’ wet wipes, which can be bought from 10 leading High Street retailers and supermarkets, are unsuitable to carry the new ‘Fine to Flush’ logo – which denotes an official UK water industry standard identifying which wet wipes are safe to be flushed down the toilet.

These ‘flushable’ wipes are marketed under a range of descriptions – from moist toilet tissue, dispersible wipes, to toddler training wipes – but could be contributing to sewer blockages, so-called ‘fatbergs’ and marine pollution, says the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). The charity says it strongly urges the public not to buy these wipes and to choose alternatives.

This new MCS research¹, is all the more shocking in the light of a YouGov poll conducted on behalf of MCS2 which revealed 72% of people in Britain said they used wet wipes in 2016. Household cleaning wipes were used by 43% of people in Britain, baby and toddler wipes by 36%, facial and skincare wipes by 35%, and moist toilet tissue were used by 24% of Brits. Click here to read more