Legal stink being raised over flushable wipe claims

CALGARY — The long-running “flushable wipes” controversy has turned into an ongoing war of words in Canada, with manufacturers insisting their moist towelettes are more sewer-friendly than ever as municipalities urge citizens to put them in the garbage, not down the toilet.

Metro Vancouver, for instance, is spending $200,000 on an “adult toilet training” program this summer, using humorous videos and ads in pink port-a-potties to bring the message to its 2.5 million system users that it’s not OK to flush “flushable” wipes — or anything else other than “pee, poo and toilet paper.”

But Lynn Matheus, senior research and engineering manager for Kimberly-Clark, manufacturer of Cottonelle wipes, insists flushable wipes are just that.

“We continue to stand firmly behind our claims that our wipes are flushable and they are safe for sewer and septic systems,” she said, adding the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in June closed without action an investigation into whether Kimberly-Clark’s marketing of flushable wipes is misleading.

Darrell Mussatto, Metro Vancouver utilities chairman, is just as convinced the wipes are a problem, pointing out utility workers were able to use remote cameras to count flushable wipes travelling through the sewer system during a pilot project last year to test its toilet training campaign.

“It cost us $100,000 in 2015 to declog the pumps in the sewer system to remove flushable wipes,” he said. “We’ve identified them.”

Municipalities hoping for federal help have turned to the Competition Bureau, responsible for Canada’s Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. Spokesman Phil Norris said in an email he can’t say whether the bureau is looking into flushable wipes because its investigations must be kept confidential.

Dave Rouse, president of the Association of Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, said the industry is fighting 14 lawsuits in the U.S. brought by individuals or municipalities claiming flushable wipes harmed their sewage systems.

“A flushable wipe that passes our flushability assessment test is incapable of causing harm to a pump,” he said. “It is too weak … A six-monthold baby could rip apart our flushable wipes.”