October 26, 2016 3.01 pm
This story is over 68 months old
Misleading packaging blamed for 21 tonne wipes blockage in Lincoln
UK water companies are appealing to Trading Standards to end misleading packaging after it was revealed 21 tonnes of wipes and sanitary items were flushed in Lincoln. The news comes as blockage clearing costs in the East of England reached £15 million a year. Anglian Water estimates around 800 tonnes of wipes and sanitary items…
Around 21 tonnes of flushed wipes are responsible for blockages in Lincoln.
UK water companies are appealing to Trading Standards to end misleading packaging after it was revealed 21 tonnes of wipes and sanitary items were flushed in Lincoln.
The news comes as blockage clearing costs in the East of England reached £15 million a year.
Anglian Water estimates around 800 tonnes of wipes and sanitary items are being flushed every week in the region, with around 21 tonnes found in Lincoln alone.
The water company is asking customers to bin troublesome wipes, rather than flushing them down the loo.
UK water companies have joined forces to ask Trading Standards to end what they call misleading ‘flushable’ claims.
A recent declaration was signed by all UK water companies and 19 other countries around the world, outlining the water industry’s position on products labelled as “flushable”.
Sanitary items and wipes have been blamed for the blocked pipes in Lincoln.
The manufacturers of wipes used for host of purposes, such as cleaning and personal hygiene, claim they can be flushed and print this clearly on product packaging.
But Anglian Water argues wipes do not break down like conventional toilet paper after going down loo.
As a result, flushing them is causing sewer blockages, flooding to homes and gardens and also damaging the environment.
Rachel Dyson, Anglian Water’s Keep It Clear programme manager, said: “Wipes cause real problems in the sewer network and have a devastating impact on customers.
“Wipes are by far the worst culprit but cotton buds, tampons and fats also cause problems in the sewers.
“They result in around 80% of the 30,000 blockages across the East of England each year.
“This, along with a build up of fats and greases wrongly put down the sink after cooking, is a rapidly growing problem.
“Only the three ‘p’s should be flushed – pee, poo and (toilet) paper.
“We want customers to be given clear advice by manufacturers on how to dispose of wipes responsibly. This advice should be “do not flush”.
Sarah Mukherjee, Director of Environment at Water UK, said: “There are strong views from customers and water companies around the world that it is time for the manufacturers to take action to prevent sewer flooding.
“The financial and emotional cost of a sewer flood in your home is awful and surely it is worth taking every step possible to prevent this happening.”
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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