Why Was Fine to Flush Phased Out? The Water Research Centre Explains

Tuesday 6th August, 2024

2019 was a big year in the UK’s battle against drain blockages - and not just because of the debut of the Unblocktober campaign! That year also saw the introduction of Fine to Flush, a new Water UK standard for wet wipes that helped to clearly mark out to shoppers which products could be safely flushed down the toilet.

After five successful years, during which hundreds of products earned and displayed the Fine to Flush badge, Water UK officially retired the scheme in March 2024. However, its legacy will continue in various positive ways, all of which will aid the Unblocktober mission to save our sewers and seas.

To look back on the history of Fine to Flush, Unblocktober spoke to Peter Henley, head of pollution and flooding reduction at the Water Research Centre (WRc), the organisation responsible for the quality testing methods that underpinned the scheme. Here, Peter shares his thoughts on the impact of the Fine to Flush scheme, the reasons why it ended, and how it will help shape the future.
 

How did Fine to Flush come about?

Fine to Flush was established by Water UK, the trade association representing all of the country's water and wastewater companies, as a new method of preventing wet wipes from causing sewer blockages.

Over the years, there have been a lot of initiatives aimed at reminding people of the importance of not flushing wipes down the drain, whether that be Unblocktober or Water UK’s own “Bin the Wipe” campaign. However, the reality is that a lot of wet wipes still get flushed despite this, and with demand for these products on the rise, the industry felt that there was a need for a new method for helping consumers understand which products are actually suitable to be flushed.

There have always been a lot of wet wipe products labelled as “flushable” on the market, but this has caused a lot of confusion for consumers, because many of the products sold as flushable actually contain hidden plastics, and do not actually break down properly in the drain, despite the advertising claims. Fine to Flush was designed to tackle this, providing a clear label for products that had passed strict tests - developed and performed by WRc, to show they have been scientifically proven to break down in the sewer system.

Waitrose was one of the first supermarkets to come on board and sell products that had earned the Fine to Flush badge. What really helped to move the needle on getting people to understand the importance of Fine to Flush was the BBC’s nature documentary Blue Planet. This really woke the public up to the negative impact of wet wipes and created a real surge in demand for flushable products from supermarkets.

Was Fine to Flush a success?

A lot of the media may have interpreted the end of the Fine to Flush campaign as a sign that it wasn’t successful, but from our point of view, the accreditation was a massive success.

Before the introduction of Fine to Flush, it was essentially the norm for all wet wipes to be unflushable, with a high plastic content. People were used to buying these products in large numbers and flushing them (despite them being unflushable) without much consideration, and when the scheme launched in 2019, there was a lot of scepticism that the larger multinational manufacturers like Kimberly-Clark or P&G would get on board.

By establishing Fine to Flush as a plastic-free standard, backed by a simple accreditation and a rigorous testing method, we generated a lot of momentum in changing the status quo. Everyone got on board, from top supermarkets to discount stores, as they all wanted to be seen to be doing the right thing, and doing right by a public who had become increasingly aware of the importance of environmentally friendly products.

Recently, WRc was commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to test plastic and non-plastic versions of various wipes to see if they would disintegrate - and we found that it was difficult to even find a plastic version to purchase for use in this testing process. That’s a marker of just how significantly this voluntary scheme has transformed the marketplace.

We also did some work for a major retailer last year, in which we analysed household waste pollution in wastewater samples in Gloucester and Cheltenham as part of an impact assessment. We found that baby wipes and surface cleaning wipes made up the vast majority of what was coming through, in addition to period products. Flushable products made up a very small quantity, with a negligible impact.

Why did Fine to Flush come to an end?

The decision to end Fine to Flush was a strategic call by Defra, who are keen to simplify the message around proper waste disposal. Thérèse Coffey, who was the environment secretary at the time, felt that having any products on the shelves that are explicitly labelled as flushable could risk creating consumer confusion, and dilute the messaging promoted by campaigns like Bin the Wipe.

As such, the decision was taken to end the scheme and fully focus on prevention. Campaigns like Bin the Wipe and Unblocktober will play a massive role in this, as will the groundbreaking new UK-wide ban on wet wipes containing plastic, which was confirmed in April 2024 to be coming into law.

We fully support this ban, as well as public awareness campaigns like Unblocktober, as vital methods of tackling sewer pollution. I was personally invited to the Houses of Parliament in 2023 as a guest of campaigning MP and Unblocktober Champion Fleur Anderson in support of the plastic wet wipe ban, and we agree that in the long term, this kind of behavioural change is the best and most effective way of tackling the drain pollution problem.

How are future initiatives building on the success of Fine to Flush?

Although Fine to Flush has come to an end, WRc believes that there remains a need for a standardised method of evaluating and verifying flushability standards in household products. Without a means of testing this, it creates a risk of cheap, non-verified products coming back onto the market that don’t disintegrate as well as a Fine to Flush product, even if they are technically non-plastic and biodegradable.

Even though the Fine to Flush labelling has been withdrawn, WRc’s certification method remains in place and endorsed by the water industry. We are now representing the UK, alongside United Utilities, in discussions to create a new international ISO flushability standard, which will unify the various testing methods used overseas to create a joined-up global approach to testing and verifying products.

We are expecting the draft version of this new standard to be finalised this summer, with the hope of bringing the new ISO standard into force at some point in late 2024 or early 2025. We believe that this could have a massive role to play in helping to reduce the impact of wet wipes on drain blockages all over the world.

At the same time, we’ll be monitoring the impact of the new plastic wet wipe ban with great 
interest, and hope to carry out a collection study six to 12 months after the introduction of the ban to measure what kind of impact it’s had on drain blockage and pollution trends.

Ultimately, we’re firm believers that binning every wipe and rallying behind the Unblocktober message will make a huge difference in protecting our sewers and seas. However, we also understand that wipes sometimes end up going down the drain for whatever reason. We want to make it as easy as possible for manufacturers and the water industry to minimise the damage this causes.

In the end, we all have a role to play in this - and if we all take action together, we can make a meaningful change.

Thank you so much to Peter for taking the time to speak to us! You can find out more about the Water Research Centre’s important work here.

Please visit the Unblocktober blog regularly for more information and insights on the very latest developments in the fight against drain pollution. To learn more about the campaign and how to sign up, click here.