UK's sewage system in danger of gridlock from toilet paper substitutes

[sl8]

From https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/uks-sewage-system-in-danger-of-gridlock-from-toilet-paper-substitutes-coronavirus

UK's sewage system in danger of gridlock from toilet paper substitutes

Shortages amid coronavirus panic buying could cause wet wipe and kitchen roll fatbergs

Rebecca Smithers and Josh Halliday

Mon 16 Mar 2020 10.07 EDTLast modified on Mon 16 Mar 2020 10.38 EDT

Consumers have been warned of the dangers of substituting kitchen roll and wet wipes for toilet paper which – if flushed down the loo – could overwhelm the UK’s sewers.

Innocent consumer substitutions due to shortages caused by fears about the spread of coronovirus could create serious consequences which are critical to society and life, according to leading supply chain academic Prof Richard Wilding.

The warning comes amid panic buying sweeping UK supermarkets, which has resulted in some people trying to make a massive profit by selling toilet roll and hand sanitiser online.

The Guardian found one UK-based eBay user selling a 72-pack of Andrex toilet roll for £84.99 on Monday morning – triple its retail price.

[...]

[Igel]

1. No matter how you try to idiot-proof a system,

idiocy will win.

If there's a 0.000 1% chance of something happening, given more than 1,000,000 occurrences it starts to become more likely than not.

[Coventina]

2. I've been wondering about this. I've been told by plumbing guys

that even "premium" tp can cause clogs.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. Wow, surprised the toilet paper hoarding is happening in UK too

Where did everyone get the idea to board toilet paper?

[pansypoo53219]

4. WW2 time. use a washcloth. how is the diaper supply?

[cwydro]

5. Lol, a very young woman in the line behind me yesterday at the grocery...

Told me, oh honey, I’ve got enough odd socks to never worry about having toilet paper.

Southern and country...gotta love it!