“The cost per sheet of a flushable wipe is $1—meaning for every flushable wipe, $.10 is for the wipe and $.90 goes to the plumber.”

– Plumbing knowledge from a D.C. homeowner.

Sewage companies have been working overtime the last few years, cursing the fact that the supposed 'flushable wipes' aren’t actually flushable as advertised. While these wipes impose no problems when flushed down the toilet, they are actually getting caught in the sewage system, leading to problems down the road. This only seems to multiply as time goes by because a single wipe down the toilet eventually becomes a whole box of wipes down the toilet.

The concept of flushable wipes is almost comical since their entire selling point is based on a lie. As a homeowner, the damage that these wipes cause is not visible as only the plumber gets the behind-the-scenes view. This ends up being a lot of extra work for the plumber when the wipe should have simply been thrown in the trash in the first place, not the toilet. However, how can we blame the homeowner when they were told otherwise?

The wipes’ market value currently rests at $13.2 billion, according to Adam Page from Smithers Apex, and it is expected to grow between 6-7% annually until the end of the decade. While these products are increasing in popularity, municipalities such as New York City are currently working on a bill that will require proper labeling of the “flushable” wipes. Legislation such as this will hopefully erase the possibility of disposing the wipes in the toilet for good.

With flushable wipes here to stay, it looks like they will soon dominate user’s drains if they haven’t already. Want to see what happens when you flush a ‘flushable’ wipe?

A good rule of thumb to follow is that wipes should never be flushed!