A NATIONWIDE campaign backed by the Scottish Government to ban plastic-based wipes is being launched on Wednesday, following a study that found the items to be the most common type of beach pollution.
Scottish Water’s “Nature Calls” campaign is urging people to “bin the wipes and join the wave”, and asks the public to stop flushing wipes down the sewer system – or ditch the use of them completely.
It comes after Scottish Water announced that last year saw more than 10,000 tonnes of plastic material removed from Scotland’s wastewater treatment plants.
Backed by a range of organisations, including the Marine Conservation Society, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Zero Waste Scotland, it also hopes to unite governments north and south of the border in working together to introduce a ban on wipes made with plastic.
Douglas Millican, Scottish Water chief executive, said: “Our message to our customers is clear: please bin the wipes and help us protect the environment.
“And to policymakers, we say now is the time to ban all wipes containing plastic and rid our sewers, rivers and beaches of this needless problem.
“Last year, more than 10,000 tonnes of material – the equivalent of 80 blue whales – was removed from Scotland’s wastewater plants.
“Many thousands of tonnes more ended up blocking sewers, causing flooding, or being flushed into rivers during storms and heavy rain. Research by the Marine Conservation Society shows that wipes are now the most common cause of beach pollution."
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“Wipes are an understandable convenience item – but many contain plastic, which causes serious problems when disposed of inappropriately by flushing down the toilet, such as blocked sewers, homes flooded with sewage, and pollution on our beaches and rivers.
“Every year our teams deal with around 36,000 blockages at a cost to customers of £7 million annually and around 80% of the blockages we attend feature wipes.
“Members of the public, communities, campaigners, manufacturers, retailers and governments must all work together to do the right thing for nature now and for generations to come.”
The Nature Calls campaign is set to be launched at Cramond Beach, Edinburgh, whilst Scottish Water volunteers take part in a beach clean.
Environment Minister Mairi McAllan, above, said: “The actions we take at home can help protect Scotland’s world-renowned rivers, lochs, wetlands and seas.
“Every year, hundreds of millions of pieces of single-use plastic are wasted in this country – they litter our coasts, pollute our oceans and contribute to the climate emergency.
“Scotland was the first country in the UK to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds and we have taken action to place market restrictions on plastic microbeads.
"We are pursuing proposals to ban some of the most problematic single-use plastic items, such as straws and plastic cutlery, subject to the impact of the UK Internal Market Act 2020.
“We support the calls to ban wet wipes containing plastic and encourage the UK Government and other administrations to work with us to bring forward bans on unnecessary and environmentally harmful products.”
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Catherine Gemmell, Scotland conservation officer for the Marine Conservation Society, said:
“A staggering 30,000 wet wipes have been picked up by our volunteers right here on Cramond beach over the last five years. It’s not just a problem here though. At last year’s Great British Beach Clean we found an average of 25 wet wipes for every 100m of Scottish beach surveyed.
“Our toilets can still sadly be gateways to the ocean which is why incorrectly flushed items like plastic wet wipes can be found on beaches across Scotland. We need to stop plastic items, like wet wipes, getting into the sewer system and out in the ocean.
"That’s why we’re supporting the Nature Calls campaign to ban plastic wet wipes and help reduce the number of wipes mis-flushed. Show your support for wet wipe free beaches and seas by supporting the campaign too.”
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