Did you know our water companies aren't responsible for fixing any toilet or pipe blockages on domestic properties? What's even more astonishing is that often insurance companies won't pay out if the blockage is a result anything apart from the 3Ps being flushed down the loo (that's pee, poop and (toilet) paper). It costs around £99 to call out a plumber to fix this type of blockage and that doesn't account for any additional damage such as water damage.
United Utilities spend around £10 million every year having to unblock public pipes, and they have made it their mission to help educate us about what we can and can't flush down the toilet, with a particular focus on educating parents about “flushable” wipes. They asked a bunch of parents about what weird items their children have tried to flush and this is what they found:
- Cardboard middle of the loo roll – 37%
- Toys – 17%
- Bars of soap – 17%
- Food – 15%
- Lego – 12%
- Money – 6%
- Clothing – 5%
- Keys – 3%
- Jewellery 2%
A lot of the issues from blocked pipes can be avoided if we stick to only flushing the 3 Ps.
What's wrong with flushing wipes?
Most of the wipes I see are labelled as “flushable”, so you would think they wouldn't cause a problem. “Flushable” means they will go down the toilet, but it doesn't mean that they won't block pipes. Wipes don't break down like toilet paper does, and instead they can snag on pipe joints which then causes significant blockages. Not only do the wipes block our sewers, flushing them is really bad for the environment too. Did you know that the number of wet wipes washing up on UK beaches increased by over 50% last year? That is a staggering amount! To save our pipes and our environment, just bin the wipes!
Win Boots vouchers with United Utilities
United Utilities also have 30 prizes of £25 worth of Boots vouchers up for grabs! Simply download their parent pack for free to see what the 3P Promise is all about. To enter, take a photo of yourself and/or your littlw ones making the #3PPromise. Be as creative as you like and be sure to use the hashtag #3PPromise and include @unitedutilities in your tweet to enter. You can also enter on their Facebook page. The competition has been extended and ends at the end of June!
Get your free 1% at a time printable
This simple trick helped us to clear £15,000 worth of credit card debt. Simply take your savings goal and divide it by 100 to get your 1% at a time. Once you have saved or earned 1%, cross it off. Download this free printable to keep you on track.
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