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Comment by layer8 | Hacker News Reader

> it’s incomprehensible that in other countries people just wipe and…hope for the best.

Nowadays many people use wet wipes. Probably less environmentally friendly, but they solve the same problem.

FYI for anyone that uses wet wipes: please don't. If you have to, ignore any marketing they have about the wipes being flushable. They absolutely are not, and cause major issues for sanitation operators. Even the ones labeled septic safe really aren't, from what I understand the 'septic safe' marketing just refers to them not containing chemicals that will poison a septic system. They don't break down in a septic system like paper will.

Less environmentally friendly and greatly more damaging to the infrastructure. Spain is even looking to introduce legislation to reduce/remove their use[0].

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/28/spain-to...

That link talks about plastic items, but the wet wipes I’m familiar with are 100% plant-based and biodegradable, and dissolve in water.

Edit, to clarify: The wipes in question have been certified according to the EDANA Flushability Guidelines, which have been adopted into law in some countries, and there is also a related Spanish standard UNE 149002:2019 (“Acceptance criteria for disposable products via toilet”). The producer (Essity) claims that they dissolve similarly quickly to regular toiled paper.

It might very well be that the wipes still cause problems, but it’s not like these are plastic items that are flushed down the toilet in an unregulated way.

Dissolving in water is not enough to prevent clogging infrastructure, they must dissolve quickly. Most don't.

At least in the US, the “plant-based”, “biodegradable”, sewer or septic safe wet wipes are anything but sewer and septic safe. They cause such problems that in my town with older sewers there are huge fines if you’re tracked down flushing them.

That situation is such a mess. Those dissolving wipes actually exist, and actually dissolve.

So what do people do? They buy the cheap, non-dissolving ones and flush them anyway. Then when they inevitably clog, they call the plumber and insist they bought the correct ones when asked. So now there's widespread confusion about whether the dissolving ones work.

There was a news article on Australia a few years ago about these wet wipes that were advertised as biodegradable and dissolved in water, but they were either outright lies or they didn't degrade / dissolve in anywhere near the timeframe that made them suitable for flushing down the toilet - hence an increase in the fatberg problem.

The news article was essentially a public service announcement to not flush those wet wipes unless you want a sewerage problem down the line.

And I read a study a while back that researched this, and analyzed several fatberg deposits. They concluded that there was no trace of biodegradable wipes. And that follows purchasing patterns--99.9% of those bought aren't the biodegradable kind. People just don't care and continue to flush wipes, diapers, fats, cat litter, and who knows what else.

I would love to know which wipes those are, because I have never come across any that are even remotely actually dissolvable. If you know of a brand, I really would like to know which that is. Have you ever tried putting one in some water just to see how dissolvable they are?

There is also that they’re kind of a contradiction in terms anyways, they’re wet … wipes. If they were dissolvable in water, the wetness of the wipes would cause dissolvement.

What many people are not even aware of is that even all high end toilet paper in the USA is a major headache for sewer systems because even that “paper” does not dissolve well at all, because they’re so focused on making the “paper” feel soft or be durable, it’s technically not even paper anymore and actually more like a cellulose felt.

No, it’s all lies. Wet wipes don’t break down, no matter what these companies tell you. I’d rather listen to whatever your municipality is telling you.

Spain has a hard time figuring out how to get their sewage system to handle regular toilet paper and many regions/places require you to deposit the toilet paper in trash cans next to the toilet. That being said, I think there are better options like a clever public awareness campaign, banning the claim of being flushable, required packaging that says not to flush, requiring to be packaged with plastic bags for disposal, or even just accumulating all the costs of issues from the wipes and charge them to the industry as a whole in various taxes and fees, which will push the incentive to solve the problem on the industry.

I used to use wet wipes and flushed them, now I have a bidet and have only ever used wet wipes when traveling, where, ironically, Spain’s issues with basic things like flushing toilet paper, make disposing/not flushing wet wipes easy because many bathrooms have a lidded trash can next to the toilet/in the stall.

Ironically, their bigger issues produce a solution to a different, bigger problem.

Note: Yes, I’m aware it’s not everywhere in Spain or only Spain, but I am curious to hear where everywhere everyone has encountered having to put their toilet paper on a trash can instead of flushing.

This is really terrible. Expensive and anti ecological.

Also used water sprays all my life

Maybe someday Americans will notice that they are the different ones.

I don’t think Americans are using wet wipes on their toilet business, at least in any meaningful numbers, maybe parent was talking about some other region of the world? There are plenty of regions of the world where TP is the norm, eg in China you aren’t going to find sprayers or Japanese style toilet seats, and many toilets are still squats.

American exceptionalism will never allow that. Either America is the best of everywhere or are the same as America.

It does not solve the same problem. The same way the majority of people prefer to wash their hand at a faucet with soap and water. They might put up with a wet wipe when they are near a faucet but it doesn't "solve the same problem". At best it's a temporary solution until you get to a place where you can really wash.

Well, to be fair, they do solve the same problem, just not nearly as well :P

The wet wipes aren't for the hands, they are for your behind. You still wash your hands with water and soap afterwards.

Definitely terrible on your sewer system.

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