Dude Wipes: Are Flushable Wipes Really Flushable?

The flushability of flushable wipes has come under strong scrutiny over the last few weeks.  This home experiment on Dude Wipes is meant to answer the question, are flushable wipes really flushable?

A lot of negative news articles have surrounded the flushable wipes industry recently.  I thought it was a relatively new phenomenon, that municipalities were just now seeing the effects of flushable wipes on their water treatment plants and sewage systems.  But in doing research, I found articles dating back to 2013, claiming that flushable wipes should NOT be flushed.

I hadn’t put much thought into the flushability of flushable wipes, and to be honest, I didn’t think twice about the “flushable” claims made by companies like Dude Wipes.  I thought that if they said “flushable”, they were indeed flushable.

I didn’t realize the detrimental effect wipes can have on sewage systems until I read about divers in Charleston, South Carolina being forced to travel 80-90 feet into raw sewage, clawing their way through darkness in order to clear one massive wipe clog.  Don’t worry though, the divers were sprayed down with bleach afterward.  Check out the full article here.

I did a little more digging and found this YouTube video from 2016, where CBS news WCCO out of Minnesota discusses some of the negative effects flushable wipes can have on municipalities.

All of these “flushable” claims got me wondering, are flushable wipes really flushable?  Are Dude Wipes in particular, flushable?

I decided to take a step back in life and dig down to my 4^th grade roots.  I wanted to perform a classic scientific experiment answering the question: Are Dude Wipes flushable?

Question: Are Dude Wipes Flushable?

Hypothesis: If Dude Wipes are placed in water, then they will disintegrate (like toilet paper).

Procedure:

1. I put one Dude Wipe sheet into a container with 14 ounces of water, and four sheets of 2-ply Angel Soft into a separate container with 14 ounces of water. The Angel Soft acts as a control for what “flushable” looks like.

Why Angel Soft you ask?

A. Angel Soft is cheap. I was able to pick up 4 rolls for $2 at Wal-Mart.

B. With the exception of my brother-in-law, most guys I have talked to don’t really give a shit about their toilet paper. It doesn’t matter if its $17 per roll Japanese Hanebisho Toilet Paper (made from the finest imported Canadian Wood Fiber and processed with water from the Nyodo River, Japan’s cleanest waterway), or the thinnest single ply that you inevitably poke through every time (think college dorm bathrooms).  As long as it wipes, it doesn’t matter.

Angel Soft is vanilla, just a regular ol’ toilet paper.

2. I stirred each container with an alcohol stir stick for ten seconds.
3. I stirred, recorded my results, and took pictures at the following intervals: Instantly, 30 minutes, 1 Hour, 18 Hours, and 24 Hours

Results:

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Check out the results for Are Dude Wipes Flushable?

Instantly

Dude Wipes: The wipe stayed intact and spun around my stick upon stirring.  No visible signs of disintegration.

Toilet Paper:  I was amazed at how quickly the toilet paper broke up upon stirring.  It turned into pulp almost instantly.

30 Minutes

Dude Wipes: Some fibers were visible floating off the main wipe, but still definitely intact.

Toilet Paper: The pulp water was slightly more hazy than when first placed into the water, likely indicating further disintegration on a smaller, particulate level.

1 Hour

Dude Wipes: Definitely more fibers in the water than 30 Minute interval.  Main wipe still visible.

Toilet Paper: No change.

18 Hours

Dude Wipes: Not much visible change from 1 Hour interval, although it looked promising initially until stirring.  There was still a lot of tension on the stick when stirring, and the main wipe was still very much intact.

Toilet Paper: Very fine pulp present.

1 Day

Dude Wipes: Large chunks broke off from the main wipe and separated, but large portions of the wipe were still intact.  Upon pouring out into an old pie pan, large chunks were still visible.  I was able to grab chunks and lay them onto the side of the pan.

Toilet Paper: Very fine pulp present.  I wasn’t able to grab any large chunks upon pouring out into the pie pan.

Conclusion/Discussion:

The Dude Wipes package indicates that they have been tested by an independent lab which states that the wipes meet INDA Flushable Products Guidelines.

I did some research on the INDA, which is now known as the Association of the of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (changed from the International Nonwovens and Disposables Association).  From what I found out, the INDA is basically an association that sets up conferences for businesses in the industry to get together and discuss all things “nonwoven”.  They also provide courses, data, and test methods.  (Source)

I’m not sure what the “Guidelines” are for flushable wipes, but based on my rudimentary experiment, I’d say that municipalities are onto something when they say their sewage systems are being clogged by these wipes.

One argument from flushable wipe companies is that people are flushing non-flushable wipes, which is the true contributor to clogs.

Again, I’m going to defer to my experiment and say that both flushable and non-flushable wipes can be a contributing factor to these sewage clogs.

So, in answering the question Are Dude Wipes Flushable?  Yes, Dude Wipes are technically flushable, meaning, they will go down the toilet when flushed.

But, will they disintegrate like toilet paper? No.

I’m going to advise the same thing we’ve all heard our entire lives: only #1, #2, and toilet paper gets flushed.  No tampons. No condoms. No baseballs. No wipes, flushable or non-flushable.

Throw that shit away, literally.

Thanks for reading Dude Wipes: Are Flushable Wipes Really Flushable?

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Good luck in your endeavors!

-Chris