Blocked Sewers !

This week the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission lost a case in the Federal court.  It had been a desperate action against Kimberly-Clark Australia, the company that makes  products described as" wet wipes " that are suitable for flushing down the toilet.

The multitude of councils which treat sewage in Australian cities and towns is experiencing what they term " fatberg " blockages where these wet wipes accumulate around the agitation that is intended to keep the flow moving.  The end result is blocked sewers which not only inconvenience residents, but cost the councils a mint of money to  clear.  Sydney Water says it cost them eight million dollars a year to manually remove wet wipes.

Justice Jaqueline Gleeson dismissed the action against Kimberly-Clark on the grounds that she was not persuaded that wet wipes were unsuitable for flushing down the toilet. As such, the company's claims  did not breach consumer law because they were not false or misleading.  She ordered the ACCC to pay costs.

This is a problem that has been constantly growing in recent years. Originally, wet wipes were an innovation specifically developed for the use of mothers attending to the toilet needs of small children.  It was thought that a wet wipe would be easier on the baby's skin after a nappy cleanup and both nappy and wet wipe would be disposed of in the household rubbish bin.

It is one of life's mysteries why many adults have moved from toilet paper to wet wipes for personal toilet use. Despite appeals from councils this trend is steadily growing.  Kimberly-Clark Australia makes Kleenex Cottonelle Flushable Cleaning cloths (KCFC ) and these are gaining shelf space in Australian supermarkets.

Fortunately, this trend is small in relation to the general use of toilet paper but it is growing and council appeals for people to refrain from flushing anything but toilet paper will now be retarded by this court ruling.  There is the prospect that the ACCC may launch an appeal, but that will be some time in the future and the damage from sewer blockage is happening more frequently.

Justice Gleeson noted that the Kimberly-Clark product met the international standard for flushability test and that Australian water authorities were working on creating a new standard.  This new voluntary standard is expected to be released later this year.  In the meantime, they will continue to run an advertising campaign based on the " Keep wipes out of pipes " message.

It looks like keeping the sewers flowing action is back in the ACCC's court.  Very obviously wet wipes have gained an appeal in some minds that will be impossible to change.  Perhaps the sewage people need to improve their flow machinery to enable it to safely handle wet wipes.  That might be a lot easier than trying to change public opinion.