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The original item was published from 8/30/2018 3:06:04 PM to 8/30/2018 3:07:28 PM.

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Royal Oak | City Spotlights

Posted on: August 30, 2018

[ARCHIVED] Please Don't flush the "Flushables"!!

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Some brands of wet wipes, which are used for everything from wiping babies' bottoms to removing makeup to quick house cleaning are labeled "flushable." The problem is that they're really not ~ at least not the way toilet paper is.  They may be flushable but they are not biodegradable (like toilet paper) and are clogging sewer systems across the state and country.  The phenomenon, which local officials call ragging, is causing major clogging problems.  All it takes is one wipe to catch on a tree root or any other debris in the sewer system and then wipes or other items pile on each other causing a blockage.  The wipes will go down the toilet, but that doesn't mean they are "flushable" to the point that toilet paper deteriorates.  And if people think "out of sight, out of mind, it's not my problem" they are mistaken.  If a main sewer line gets dammed by the pile up of wipes then eventually it will back up into private sewer lines which will cause a back up in people's homes.

Unfortunately the most frequently found items in sewer systems are paper towels/napkins, baby wipes, feminine hygiene products and household wipes which don't deteriorate like toilet paper does.  The only items that should be flushed is toilet paper and human waste; please throw everything else in the garbage.



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