Bin the Wipe to go nationwide

A campaign created by Northumbrian Water to stop sewer blockages caused by wet wipes and other household unflushables has been adopted for rollout across the country.

Bin the Wipe was introduced by Northumbrian in 2020 to hone in on problem areas that were frequently affected by blocked pipes and sewers. Its success saw blockages reduced by 52% and internal flooding incidents fall by 64%.

It will now be rolled out nationwide from February, coordinated by Water UK, to see more parts of the country adopt the Bin the Wipe approach.

Bin the Wipe will be run across social media channels and other digital platforms before potentially being supported with an advertising campaign.

Northumbrian combined sewer technology to pinpoint blockage hotspots with doorstep visits to customers in streets responsible for blockages to raise awareness of the damage caused when wipes are improperly disposed of.

More than 90,000 households were engaged with last year alone in what head of wastewater networks Simon Cyhanko described as a “really busy, but rewarding year”.

He said return visits by teams in some regions showed between 80% and 91% reduction in the number of wipes found in the sewers.

“That’s brilliant, because it shows that the good habit of not flushing wipes has been sustained even after our team have moved out of these areas,” Cyhanko said.

In some parts of its region, Northumbrian used a tracing tool called the Barbarian, designed by one of the sewerage operatives to pinpoint where wipes are entering the sewer system.

The company will continue to work to encourage communities to maintain good habits as well as visit more parts of the networks with blockage hotspots.

Fleur Anderson, Labour MP, raised a private members bill in Parliament in November 2021 to ban plastics in wet wipes, which she reintroduced in 2022. It received broad support and led to a government consultation, which ended last February and an outcome will be published.

Cyhanko said: “It’s also really exciting to know that the rest of the industry, and even MPs, have been watching, and that the Bin the Wipe message is set to go national. The flushing of wipes is a blight on communities and the environment across the country, and it’s such a simple change that can help make a massive difference in reducing blockages and incidents of flooding. All people have to do to be part of that difference is not put their wipes in the toilet. Bin the Wipe.”