In a major new campaign to help protect the environment, Scottish Water is asking the public to join forces to avoid sewer blockages, flooding, and pollution by consigning wipes to the bin.

Image: wipes at Paisley Water Treatment Works

The water company is also calling on governments north and south of the border to work together to ban wipes made with plastic.

The new nationwide campaign – Nature Calls – is backed by a wide range of other organisations, including the Marine Conservation Society, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Zero Waste Scotland, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, WWF Scotland and the Royal Zoological Society Scotland.

Research by the Marine Conservation Society shows that wipes are now the most common cause of beach pollution.

Wipes are a convenience item - but many contain plastic, that cause serious problems when disposed of inappropriately by flushing down the toilet - blocked sewers, homes flooded with sewage, and pollution on beaches and rivers.

Scottish Water teams deal with around 36,000 blockages a year at an annual cost of £7m to customers 

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 was removed from Scotland’s waste water plants. Many thousands of tonnes more ended up blocking sewers, causing flooding, or being flushed into rivers during storms and heavy rain.

“Every year our teams deal with around 36,000 blockages at a cost to customers of £7 million annually and around 80 per cent 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 was launched at Cramond Beach, Edinburgh, yesterday - the campaign will feature adverts on multiple channels through February and March.

Scotland’s Environment Minister Mairi McAllan 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.”