Show caption A fatberg in a sewer beneath Sidmouth, England, which which filled 36 tanker loads when it was removed. It was later analysed by University of Exeter scientists. Photograph: University of Exeter/AP Cities Andy Serkis plays talking anus in fatberg prevention campaign Fatbergs clogging city sewers consist of 0.5% fat and 93% wet wipes – so a new campaign encourages people dispose of wipes responsibly Matthew Jenkin Mon 14 Oct 2019 06.00 BST Share on Facebook

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Andy Serkis is familiar with playing malevolent creatures that lurk in the darkness, so it is perhaps fitting that the Lord of the Rings actor is now raising awareness about the unsightly horrors that lie in the UK’s sewers.

A new campaign is warning against flushing wet wipes down the toilet. It turns out that the “fatbergs” clogging up our city sewers actually consist of just 0.5% fat and 93% wet wipes. Perhaps we should be calling them “wipebergs”.

A short animated film stars Serkis as a talking anus, highlighting the damaging impact of our addiction to wet wipes and calling for the public to “be a good a**hole” and dispose of them responsibly.

Quick Guide What not to flush to avoid contributing to fatbergs Campaigns to educate people about how not to feed fatbergs take pains to remind us that toilets and sinks are not “magic portals”. There is a simple set of rules for the bathroom: stick to flushing the three Ps: pee, poo and (toilet) paper. Everything else – sanitary towels, nappies, cotton buds, condoms, dental floss, used plasters and whatever else you might think to chuck down the toilet – should go into the bin. Just because a product says it is flushable doesn’t mean that it is biodegradable. Baby wipes might be a godsend to parents, but not to Victorian-era sewerage systems. Wipes marketed as flushable will probably be able to make their way down your toilet, but will eventually clog up the pipes further along their journey. The kitchen is another area of concern. Water companies are keen to bust the myth that running hot water and pouring washing-up liquid down the sink ahead of fats, oils or grease will stop it building up and blocking the pipes. Their recommendation is to keep a small container, such as an old margarine tub, to hand in your kitchen, into which you can pour oil and fat before safely disposing of it in the bin. Martin Belam Show Hide

“All across the news we are seeing people take a stand to look after our planet,” says Serkis. “It’s only one tiny change we can all make which goes a long way in protecting our oceans.

“I didn’t think I’d ever feel so passionate to take on the role of a talking asshole.”

Last year the UK used 10.8bn wet wipes, almost a third of which were flushed down toilets.

The majority of wet wipes sold in the UK contain plastic and are not biodegradable. They combine with household cooking fats and other hygiene products to form huge solid masses, known as fatbergs.

These can cause sewage systems to overflow, polluting waterways and seas, says City to Sea, a plastic pollution campaigning organisation behind the drive.

Earlier this year a monster fatberg the size of a jumbo jet was discovered beneath Liverpool, and risked flooding the city’s streets with raw sewage. It weighed the same as 13 African elephants.



So far, more fatbergs have been discovered in London than anywhere else in the UK. In 2017, a terrifying 250-metre behemoth that was estimated to weigh 130 tonnes was found in Whitechapel. The capital’s crumbling Victorian-style sewers are struggling to cope with our wet wipe addiction and overflow on average once a week, dumping the wipes into the River Thames.



Mounds of wet wipes have built up on the riverbed over the years, changing the shape of London’s beloved waterway. In 2018, Thames 21, a London environmental organisation that cleans up rivers and canals, retrieved 5,453 wet wipes in 116 sq metres of the Thames embankment near Hammersmith. Wet wipes also find their way on to UK beaches, where they have increased by almost 700% over the last decade.

They are also a global problem: Belfast, Denver, and Melbourne have all discovered large fatbergs lurking in their sewers. Nor is it just big cities that are affected: sewer workers in the English seaside town of Sidmouth recently found a fatberg that was 210ft (64m) long.



Part of the reason so many are flushed appears to stem from the fact that many of the companies producing them call their products “flushables” and do not clearly label the packaging with what they’re actually made of.

“There is a confusion when we are told we can flush them,” says City to Sea founder Natalie Fee. “Yes, physically they can pass through a toilet, but the material they are made of doesn’t break down. People don’t realise that it’s like flushing a plastic bag down the toilet.”

In the US, some cities are taking legal action against companies for misleading the public about their product’s “flushability”. In 2015, the city of Wyoming in Minnesota filed a class-action suit against Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Nice-Pak, and three other wet-wipe manufacturers for fraudulently promoting their products as flushable.

Although wet wipes are a favourite for cleaning babies, it’s not just parents who are the culprits: Keep Britain Tidy research shows that younger people are most likely to flush, not bin, with 65% of 18-24 year olds admitting to putting wet wipes, sanitary products, cotton buds, cotton wool products or condoms down the toilet.

In an effort to further combat this bad habit, the London assembly last year called for sanitary bins to also be introduced in men’s toilets. Meanwhile in Newcastle, Northumbrian Water is trying to win the hearts and minds of the public with its upbeat Love Your Drain campaign and mascot Dwaine Pipe.

City to Sea’s message is simple: only flush the “3Ps” – pee, (toilet) paper and poo.



“We are going to keep seeing increases in our water bills because of the amount of money the water companies pay for cleaning the sewers,” Fee says. “We are going to keep seeing the degradation of the marine environment from the increase in plastic pollution in our rivers and seas.

“We need more awareness of the situation. Then there is legislation and producer responsibility. It can’t just come down to the public. It has to be either the government taking action, or introducing extended producer responsibility where the polluter pays for the damage they cause.”