Bag It and Bin It – Don’t Flush!
Items flushed down the toilet, or sewage related debris (SRD), causes blockages to domestic pipes and sewage screens and can end up on our beaches.
Sewage related debris (SRD) consists of cotton bud sticks, sanitary towels, backing strips, plastic tampon applicators, tampons, nappies, condoms, toilet fresheners etc, which can enter the marine environment via sewage outfalls discharging raw or inadequately treated sewage. This happens when people use the toilet as a "wet bin" - all of these items can make it through basic water treatment works and end up on our beaches.
In 2011 SRD made up 5.4% of all litter in MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend surveys. The vast majority of SRD consists of cotton bud sticks (CBS), which make up to 60% - 80% of the total SRD. As the majority of cotton bud sticks are made of plastic they persist for many years in the environment and are not filtered out by most water treatment plants. CBS are also so thin that they can pass through even very small mesh screens, causing blockages and damage.
How you can help
- Never flush CBS or sanitary items down the toilet – always Bag It and Bin It!
- Remind friends and family that SRD can cause sewage pipe blockages which can lead to sewage overflows.
- Write to your water company asking them to support educational campaigns which ask people not to flush CBS and other sanitary items down the drain.
- Ask local stores to stock paper CBS.
- Take part in MCS's Beachwatch projects to help clean and survey beach litter to see whether sewage debris is a problem on your beach.
