McCormack Innovation's Soluble Wipes and Cotton Bud Stalks
Provision of soluble wet wipes and cotton buds to relieve the burden on sewage systems and coastal pollution
1. Baby wipes are causing hundreds of thousands of blockages in the UK sewer system and costing the country £100m every year, according to a new report.
A study from Water UK, found that wipes made up about 93% of the material causing the sewer blockages.
An investigation of 54 blockages discovered that baby wipes alone made up 75% of blockage material.
The survey found other items like cosmetic wipes, sanitary towels and nappies were also a major cause of blockages.
Most wet wipes contain plastic fibers that are not biodegradable. When the wipes make their way into the ocean, they get ingested by sea creatures, such as turtles, who mistake them for jellyfish and eventually die.
According to the findings of a 2016 study by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
- Marine debris, especially plastics can cause the death of the animals that live in the mangroves and suppress the habitat.
-Mounds of rubbish in tidal channels can be detrimental to nearshore habitats and their associated species.
- Rubbish can inhibit tidal flushing and increase salinity levels, stressing the habitat.
-A direct local economic impact can be seen when word gets out that the mangroves are polluted and tourists stay away.
“The accumulation of marine debris can alter and degrade marine habitats through physical damage caused by abrasion, shearing, or smothering, and can change the physical and chemical composition of sediments,” says the study.
“Physical damage often impairs critical nurseries and refuges used by many different organisms that occupy these habitats and may reduce the quality of habitat for organisms whose daily activities (e.g., feeding, reproduction) require the use of specific environments.'
Any uptake of our soluble, non plastic, wet wipes, including baby wipes, and our dissolvable cotton bus stalks will deliver significant savings to the remediation costs of UK sewer systems and pollution to marine and coastal regions and their communities, worldwide.
2. According to the UK's Marine Conservation Society, plastic cotton buds, which are often flushed down the toilet and can pass through sewage treatment plants, are consistently listed in the top 10 items found during beach clean-ups and litter surveys.
Last year, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson switched their swabs from unnecessary plastic to paper sticks. The move was important because the plastic is impossible to recycle, meaning the discarded sticks end up in our landfills or out to sea. However these paper sticks still take an unacceptably long time to bio-degrade.
Negating any risk of blockages or lasting environmental pollution, our soluble, paper based cotton buds (or q tips) when in contact with water, break up and are totally dispersed within 30 minutes.
- Restoring and preserving coastal ecosystems
Director