Wet wipes

[stewamax]

Wet wipes clog sewerage and inhibit treatment because they don't disintegrate easily; we are enjoined not to flush them.
But in the 1950s and earlier, UK toilet paper was firm shiny stuff on rolls (Bronco) and in rectangular packets (Izal). Bronco did, i think, even advertise that it wouldn't disintegrate.
So... DAK why the sewerage system of the time was not perpetually clogged with Broncobergs and Izaltites?

[swill453]

Wet wipes clog sewerage and inhibit treatment because they don't disintegrate easily; we are enjoined not to flush them.
But in the 1950s and earlier, UK toilet paper was firm shiny stuff on rolls (Bronco) and in rectangular packets (Izal). Bronco did, i think, even advertise that it wouldn't disintegrate.
So... DAK why the sewerage system of the time was not perpetually clogged with Broncobergs and Izaltites?

Probably because marketing lied just as much then ("it won't disintegrate") as they do now ("it will disintegrate").

Scott.

[bungeejumper]

Unlike toilet paper, wet wipes contain plastic, mainly polyester, which will hang around pretty well indefinitely in any wet environment. Be that the ocean or the humble drainpipe.

Like many part-time landlords, it drives me crazy that wet wipe manufacturers are able to lie about flushability, because busy mothers tend to believe the lies. We've spent a lot of money on Dyno-Rod over the years. Why aren't the manufacturers being prosecuted into oblivion? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46188354

BJ

[19kHz]

We used reusable nappies for our two kids, and we washed the baby wipes wipes with them. Our eldest is now 6 and whilst neither are in reusable nappies anymore, we still have the same baby wipes going through the washing machine time after time - we now use them instead of tissues. The plastic content makes them utterly indestructible and have been washed hundreds of times!

[dspp]

Wet wipes clog sewerage and inhibit treatment because they don't disintegrate easily; we are enjoined not to flush them.
But in the 1950s and earlier, UK toilet paper was firm shiny stuff on rolls (Bronco) and in rectangular packets (Izal). Bronco did, i think, even advertise that it wouldn't disintegrate.
So... DAK why the sewerage system of the time was not perpetually clogged with Broncobergs and Izaltites?

The old-style UK toilet paper you are referring to was a single ply paper. It was not a 'tissue' paper but it was a wood pulp paper and so broke up in water with agitation, i.e. the sewage system. Mind you back then the UK sewage system often just flushed straight to sea, and it wasn't until the late 70s that the UK sewage system really began to improve. Modern toilet papers tend to be two or even three ply tissue papers, and in some countries (esp Japan) they are very big on rapid disintegration testing, but we don't tend to see those products in UK use. The reason the singleply was used by many UK households and almost all state-sector usage through to late 70s was simply cost. For some more background see:

http://www.toiletpaperhistory.net/toile ... let-paper/

What the others have said about wet wipes is quite correct. There are starting to be some wet wipe products that do not contain polyester (etc) artificial fibres but there is a lot of false claiming going on as well.

In the paper industry they do a lot of testing of 'burst strength' .........

regards, dspp

[stewamax]

In the paper industry they do a lot of testing of 'burst strength' .........

Is this correlated with the paper industry's consumption of sprouts, cabbage and broccoli?