'Frankenstein foreshore': Wet wipes are reshaping Thames riverbank, study reveals

Wet wipes are reshaping the banks of the Thames to create a "Frankenstein foreshore" campaigners warn is harming wildlife in the river.

New survey data published yesterday by volunteer group Thames21 found that in Barnes, West London, a 'Great Wet Wipe Reef' has swelled to 50 metres wide, 17 metres long and a metre high - almost a metre larger than a year ago. The Barnes foreshore now contains an average of 201 wet wipes per square metre, and three other sites along the Thames also boast a similar wet wipe density.

Tideway, the firm building a 'Super Sewer' to cope with increasing sewage demand on the capital, said the mound at Barnes was growing year on year. "We undertake bathymetric surveys of the River Thames every year that have shown a near 0.7m increase in the size of the wet wipe mound at Hammersmith over the past four years," said John Sage, corporate responsibility manager at Tideway. "This is simply unacceptable in a global city like London."

Thames21 warned the abundance of wet wipes in the capital's waterways is getting out of control."The growing wet wipe market  is damaging our capital's river, turning stretches of it into a Frankenstein foreshore, part plastic part natural," said Alice Hall, coordinator of Thames21's Thames River Watch citizen science monitoring programme. "Our rivers are becoming plastic rubbish dumps: millions of wet wipes, which often contain plastic, being flushed down loos and then discharged into our rivers when the sewers can't cope. We've seen the mounds growing very fast over the past few years."

Bathymetric images showing how plastic mounds are growing on the Thames riverbed | Credit: Tideway

Wet wipe manufacturers have faced criticism for labelling their products as 'flushable' without meeting the requirements of the water industry's disintegration test for flushable wipes.

In January WaterUK revealed a new 'Fine to Flush' industry standard manufacturers will be allowed to use only if their wipes pass scientific tests confirming they can be safely flushed.

But today's news suggests wipes are still having a devastating impact on the Thames and its surroundings. In just two hours last month 160 volunteers removed 23,000 wet wipes from the Thames foreshore, as well as a host of other sanitary products and microplastics.

Allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, said manufacturers must start instructing consumers to bin wipes rather than flush them. "Our latest research shows that far too many of us continue to flush wet wipes and other sanitary items down the toilet and worryingly these habits are most prevalent amongst 18 to 24 year olds," she said. "Manufacturers need to step up and drive home the message with customers that these items should go in the bathroom bin and not down the toilet where they pollute our rivers and harm our wildlife."

Further reading

• Policy

Fatberg fightback: Water industry unveils wet wipe 'flushability' standard

• 11 Jan 2019

• Waste

UK water firms call for 'do not flush' labelling on wet wipes

• 26 Oct 2016

• Waste

Wessex Water declares war on wet wipes

• 22 Sep 2016

• Waste

Sanitary bins could come to men's toilets in war on wet wipes

• 14 Aug 2018

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Management
• marketing
• wet wipes
• water pollution