15 June 2022
Southern Downs residents are reminded that the easiest way to avoid inconvenient, costly and smelly sewerage blockages and ‘fatbergs’ is to only flush the 3 Ps – pee, poo and (toilet) paper – down the toilet.
The timely reminder comes on the back of the official release of Australian and New Zealand Standard DR AS/NZS 5329:2022 Flushable Products by Standards Australia which clarifies exactly what can and can’t be flushed down the toilet.
Southern Downs Regional Council’s Director Infrastructure Services, Gary Murphy welcomed the flushing guidelines and said they cleared up common misconceptions of what was considered flushable and outlined labelling requirements for products.
“In an Australian and international first, the new standard has been released to reduce the amount of non-flushable products in our wastewater system and this is a positive step towards stopping non-flushable items such as wet wipes from clogging up the sewers and causing unnecessary costs, inconvenience and environmental impacts,” Mr Murphy said.
“Many wet wipe products are innocently but mistakenly labelled as ‘flushable’, despite the fact that they don’t disintegrate in the sewer system in an acceptable time, whereas toilet paper breaks down in around 20 seconds.
“Only the products that are labelled as ‘flushable’ meet the industry guidelines to demonstrate the compatibility with sewerage infrastructures.
“This new standard will provide Southern Downs residents with better flushing guidance to only flush the 3 Ps – pee, poo and (toilet) paper and will help with the sewer fatberg mess that we need to deal with.
“Fatbergs that can form in sewer pipes (due to disposal of wet wipes and fats/oils) are one of the major culprits behind the sewer chokes/blockages thereby causing huge environmental and economic losses.
“Residents should always check packaging for the flushable symbol – if there’s no symbol then don’t flush it, bin it!”
For more information, visit https://www.standards.org.au/news/flushable-products-colon-public-commenting-stage.
What not to flush
Help us keep our wastewater system working well. Please dispose of these items in the bin:
- All types of wet wipes, including those labelled 'flushable'
- Facial tissues
- Paper napkins
- Hand towels
- Nappies
- Sanitary items
- Rags
- Cotton buds
- Dental floss
- Cigarette butts
- Fats and oils
- Food scraps
- Needles
- Medications
Last edited date 24 Jun 2022