A giant monster made out of wet wipes is heading to the River Thames as part of the Marine Conservation Society’s campaign to get the word “flushable” removed from packaging.
The inflatable creature, called Wallace, is appearing at Tidefest in London on 10 September.
The creature’s appearance comes as the Marine Conservation Society reveals that 83 per cent of the public would like to see the word “flushable” removed from all packaging if wet wipes do not meet water industry standards for what can be safely flushed down the toilet, according to a YouGov survey.
The campaigning group claims the number of wet wipes found on British beaches has increased by almost 700 per cent over the last decade.
“We’ve been campaigning for retailers to stop misleading the public by labelling wet wipes as flushable, because they’re known to be failing the water industry standard for what can be safely flushed,” said head of pollution, Dr Laura Foster.
“So far no wet wipes have passed this ‘flushability’ test and that’s why we will be asking everyone at TideFest to remember that all wet wipes belong in the bin.”
Thames Water, which is funding Wallace’s appearance at TideFest has 108,000km of sewers and spends £1 million a month clearing blockages from them.
The utility firm’s head of sewer networks, Matt Rimmer, said: “We’re lobbying manufacturers, government and retailers to correctly label the wipes as ‘unflushable’ and to change what they’re made from, but in the meantime we need everyone to put a bin in their bathroom and stop flushing them.
“We hope seeing Wallace at Tidefest will really help to support our ‘Bin it – don’t block it’ message.”