Good morning…Who uses wet wipes? Did you know that wet wipes contain plastic and that figure is as high as 84 %?

You might as well be wiping your bottom or face with a plastic bag…Fact!

Photo credit: yourbestdigs on VisualHunt / CC BY

The reason the wet wipe stretches like that aimed at showing how strong it is …It contains Plastic…Did you know that? Did you also know that apart from stating on the packaging whether or not the wipes are flushable it does not state they contain plastic…I have also seen tests where wipes have been analysed and tested and many which state “flushable” are not…

The Uk government state it is part of their 25-year plan ..Pleeese…Can you image at the growth rate of plastic pollution caused by wet wipes in 25 years?

A UK environmental organization revealed over 5,000 wet wipes in a space as big as half of a tennis court near the River Thames. Tens of thousands of the wipes are sold every year in Britain. That is just in one small area of London…Times that by the whole of the world…I wouldn’t even want to know what that projection would be in 25 years time…Would you? This video is light-hearted…However, the message is not!

You can buy wet wipes for everything from babies bottoms, to clean your kitchen or bathroom, your car, your laptop the list is endless both in the UK and the USA it is a multi-billion pound industry …

My take on this is that manufacturers should be bearing 100% of the cost of any cleanups due to the wet wipes causing fatbergs or whatever else damage is being done to the environment…That would focus their minds quicker than anything to come up with a cost-effective completely flushable or compostable without special equipment wet wipe…Will that happen?… Highly doubtful…

If you can’t live without wet wipes then it really is easy to make your own…

The three main worries about wet wipes.

1. Fatbergs…As we now know, the smelly grey boulders of congealed gunk clogging up the world’s sewers are in fact stuffed full of wet wipes.

   It’s a gross and smelly reminder that those seemingly innocuous moistened sheets don’t disappear or dissolve when we drop them down the toilet. Even if they’re labelled as flushable.

2. The Plastic Riverbed…River-cleaning teams have found that the hundreds of thousands of wet wipes flushed down toilets in London have actually formed a new riverbed in the Thames. It is also much the same tale in other rivers around the world too.

   And that’s before they even reach the sea and cause untold havoc there.

3. The ban that isn’t a ban…In 2018 the UK government reacted to the wet wipe problem.

   Wipes weren’t mentioned specifically in its 25-year environment plan, but a spokesperson for Defra (the environment department) came out and confirmed that its pledge to “eliminate all avoidable plastic waste” includes “single-use products like wet wipes.”

   But soon afterwards, the government stated: “We have not announced plans to ban wet wipes”. I call this backpeddling at a rate of knots…

   Instead, it said, “Our focus for wet wipes is to work with manufacturers and water companies to develop a product that does not contain plastic and can be safely flushed. We are also continuing to work with industry to make sure labelling on the packaging of these products is clear and people know how to dispose of them properly.”

I have read a lot of reports and watched podcasts on climate change and the one message that comes out of this for me is that none of these very clever scientists can agree on a timescale…I have heard anything from 5 years to 25 years… Governments make wishy-washy promises prompted by public outrage and then when they think …we have forgotten and don’t read or listen to anything important they furiously back peddle or just spout lies in the first place ..You choose what you believe…

I just get increasingly frustrated and angry..which probably raises my blood pressure and my son tells me very nicely that my thoughts and actions are admirable but do I really think it is going to make a difference in the big scheme of things. 

I have to hope it will…

What can we recycle…It is a bit of a minefield…

But how about instead of recycling when we don’t know how it is being disposed of or where it ends up…Maybe we can make something useful… Something for the kids or grandkids to get involved in…

Thank you so much for reading this post and if it made you think THEN please share and or comment on how you deal with plastic and recycling what do you think is the way forward xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you are all having a great week xx