WET WIPES CAMPAIGN RETURNS
A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN Taupō District Council and local retailers aims to reduce the amount of wet wipes ending up in our wastewater network. Wet wipes, baby wipes, cotton buds, diapers and other products commonly found on our supermarket shelves are the leading cause of blockages in the system, with many people believing they are flushable.
Taupō District Council water and wastewater treatment manager Shannon McMillan says this is not always the case, even though some of these items are labelled as flushable.
“The packaging can be misleading after you read the fine print. Although they may go down the toilet okay, they soon get caught in pipes and pumps causing blockages – which can lead to wastewater overflows. Our team has to strip down pumps at least eight times a year at the Taupō plant alone to remove compacted wet wipes that bind around moving parts, which, in addition to being a really
nasty job, also keeps staff from doing other work and increases the risk of overflows and process failures at the treatment plants.”
The campaign, which was first launched in 2019, will see messaging on supermarket shelves letting people know that certain products should be disposed of in the rubbish instead of being flushed. The campaign was one of the first of its kind in New Zealand and Mr McMillan says it is great to have the support of local retailers.
“It’s fantastic to be working with our supermarkets on this, and we’ll also be working with smaller stores around the district. This messaging will also be rolled out into council facilities, but point of sale messaging can be very, very effective as it also gets the message out to visitors as well. The more people we can get on board with this means it’s easier for us to look after the place we love.”