Evaluation of fiber compositions, strength indicators, and disintegration patterns of flushable sanitary products in relevance to what is flushable

ABSTRACT

Sanitary products (SPs) such as toilet paper and moist wipes are marketed as flushable products (FPs). SP manufacturers, wastewater authorities, and governmental agencies describe FPs in their own terms, and cause confusion about what is safe to flush with respect to sewer operations. To identify sewer-safe FPs, 11 toilet paper (TP) and 39 flushable wipe (FW) samples that were collected from around the world were examined to assess critical links between their fiber compositions, strength indicators, and disintegration performance. The findings illustrate that products that are made of primarily wood-pulp fibers have low strength, disintegrate rapidly, and are safe flushables. In contrast, products that contain strong and synthetic fibers (e.g. polyester) exhibit high strength, disintegrate slowly, and pose significant risk of accumulation in sewer systems. Suggestions are offered for product improvement and for long-term sustainability of FPs and wastewater infrastructures.

KEYWORDS:

• Flushable wipes
• toilet paper
• fiber composition
• strength
• disintegration performance

Acknowledgements

Professors Arif Karademir, Sami Imamoglu, and Ramazan Kurt of The School of Foresty at Bursa Technical University (BTU), Bursa, Turkey, are appreciated for their support to quantify strength parameters of TP and wipe samples at their laboratories. We are grateful to Prof. Bruce E. Rittmann of Arizona State University (USA) for his reviews and comments to improve organization, language, and overall presentation of this report.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.

Supplementary materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2022.2062394

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [grant number 118Y240] and by Sakarya University [grant number 2019-5-20-95].