Yes — wet wipes are one of the leading causes of fatbergs in UK sewers. When flushed, wipes don't disintegrate the way toilet paper does. Instead they travel through the pipe system intact, catch on grease and other debris, and slowly build into the dense, concrete-like blockages that water companies spend millions clearing every year.
What actually is a fatberg?
A fatberg is a solidified mass that forms inside sewer pipes when non-biodegradable material — mainly wet wipes — binds together with cooking fat, cooking oil, and other stuff that shouldn't go down the drain. The fat cools and solidifies around the wipes, which act as a kind of structural scaffold. The result is an increasingly dense lump that can grow to weigh tonnes and stretch for hundreds of metres in larger sewer systems.
The name makes them sound almost comic. They are not. In 2017, a fatberg the length of eleven double-decker buses was found under Whitechapel in London. In 2019, a 64-metre fatberg blocked sewers in Sidmouth. Water companies in the UK collectively spend over £100 million a year clearing blockages, and wet wipes are consistently identified as the primary culprit.
Why don't wet wipes break down like toilet paper?
Toilet paper is designed to fall apart when wet. It's made from short, loosely bonded cellulose fibres that dissolve quickly in water — that's its entire purpose. Most wet wipes are engineered to do the opposite: they need to stay strong and intact during use, which means the fibres are either synthetic (plastic-based), or natural fibres that have been bonded with binders that resist water breakdown.
Conventional wet wipes — including many marketed as "biodegradable" — typically contain polyester or polypropylene fibres. These are plastic. They do not break down in water at all, and they don't break down meaningfully in landfill either. Even wipes made from plant-based fibres can contain synthetic binders that hold the structure together in a pipe long enough to snag on fats and other debris.
The result: a wipe that felt soft and gentle on your hands is, from the sewer's point of view, closer to a small piece of cloth than a piece of tissue.
Don't "flushable" wipes solve this?
This is where it gets complicated — and where honest labelling actually matters.
Most wipes sold as "flushable" have historically been tested to a standard that allows them to pass through the initial pipe without blocking it, but they don't necessarily break apart quickly enough to avoid contributing to fatbergs further down the system. The UK water industry has raised this repeatedly, and stricter standards are gradually being introduced.
A genuinely flushable wipe needs to disintegrate in water quickly — the same way toilet paper does — rather than just being small enough to get around the first bend.
Our dinky flushable wipe is a thicker wipe specifically designed to break down in water. But we'll say what any honest brand should say: even with a wipe designed to disintegrate, the safest default for your drains — and for the sewers downstream — is to bin it. If you do flush, only ever flush wipes that explicitly say they are designed to break down, and never flush regular wet wipes, baby wipes or makeup wipes, regardless of what's written on the pack.
What kinds of wipes contribute most to fatbergs?
Practically all conventional wet wipes flushed down the toilet contribute to fatbergs to some degree. The worst offenders tend to be:
- Standard baby wipes — almost always made with polyester or a polyester-cotton blend. The plastic fibres do not break down.
- Makeup remover wipes — typically polyester or viscose with synthetic binders.
- Antibacterial and surface wipes — usually entirely synthetic.
- Wipes marketed as "biodegradable" without clear break-down data — many contain plastic fibres or binders that slow disintegration significantly. The word "biodegradable" has no legal definition in the UK and can appear on wipes that contain plastic.
From October 2027, the UK will ban the sale of wet wipes containing plastic fibres. That's a meaningful step. But it won't eliminate fatbergs overnight — the habit of flushing wipes is the core problem, not just the fibre type. A cotton wipe with a water-resistant binder can still block a drain.
Does the material of a wipe actually change anything for fatbergs?
Yes — but not in the way most marketing implies.
A 100% cotton wipe with no synthetic binders will break down in water much faster than a wipe containing polyester. That's genuinely better for the environment and for sewers. Cotton fibres are short, natural, and don't have the tensile strength of plastic — they won't form the same rigid scaffold inside a fatberg.
But "breaks down faster than plastic" is not the same as "safe to flush." Cotton wipes that aren't specifically designed to disintegrate in water can still travel through your pipes intact and contribute to blockages further along the system, particularly where grease is already present.
The honest position: plastic-free wipes like ours are better for the environment, better for your skin, and better for the planet — but the bin is still the right place for them unless the wipe is specifically designed and tested to break down in water.
What should you actually do with used wet wipes?
The answer is straightforward:
- Bin every wet wipe — general waste bin, not recycling, not the toilet. This applies to baby wipes, face wipes, antibacterial wipes and almost every wipe you'll encounter.
- If you use a flushable wipe, only flush it if the pack explicitly states it is designed to break down in water. Even then, one at a time — never a handful.
- Never flush wipes on a septic tank system — the microbial environment in a septic tank is different from a mains sewer, and blockages there are expensive to fix.
- If you're pouring cooking oil or fat down a drain, stop. Even a single wet wipe in a grease-coated pipe is enough to start a blockage.
The fatberg problem is genuinely a collective one — no single flushed wipe causes a fatberg, but millions of people doing it daily does. The fix is simple: put wipes in the bin.
Common questions
Are all wet wipes equally bad for fatbergs?
No — wipes with plastic fibres are the worst offenders because they don't break down at all in water or in most landfill conditions. Wipes made from natural fibres like cotton will break down faster, but they can still contribute to fatbergs if they're flushed and meet grease in the pipe. The safest approach for all wipes is to bin them.
What's the difference between a wipe blocking a drain and causing a fatberg?
A blocked drain happens when a wipe (or several) physically lodges in a pipe close to your home — usually at a bend or junction. A fatberg forms further down the sewer network, where wipes from many households combine with fats and solidify into a large mass. Both are caused by flushing wipes; fatbergs are just the large-scale, collective version of the same problem.
Will the 2027 UK wet wipe ban stop fatbergs?
It will help, but probably not eliminate them. The ban covers wipes containing plastic fibres — which is the most common type currently sold. Removing plastic fibres means flushed wipes will break down faster and won't form the same rigid structure in a fatberg. But the ban doesn't change the habit of flushing wipes, and any wipe flushed in large quantities can still cause problems. The long-term fix is behavioural: bin the wipe, every time.