Our everyday wet wipe habit has to stop, writes author AGGIE MACKENZIE trends now
A few years ago, Irish actress and comedian Sharon Horgan wrote on Twitter that she'd cleaned her entire bathroom with two baby wipes.
How brilliant that was, she'd said. And she was right.
We're all strapped for time, and there is something really satisfying about reaching for a packet of wipes and getting a job done fast, from cleaning around a sink to wiping a child's sticky fingers.
But wipes have become almost too convenient. You can get them for anything. There are wipes specifically designed for polishing furniture, for cleaning car upholstery, for wiping down windows or floors.
The beauty industry is now full of them. I'm as guilty as anyone for using make-up-remover wipes every day.
Wipes form fatbergs in the sewers, causing untold costs to infrastructure and the environment
All of these things used to be more expensive and were considered a luxury item, but as they've come down in price we've slid into seeing them as an everyday purchase.
They're so ubiquitous on supermarket shelves that buying them seems completely normal.
Like anything that's easy, though, it's become a bad habit. It's no bad thing that the Government is stepping in to stop us.
The more we use them – and unthinkingly throw or flush them away – the bigger the fatbergs in our sewage systems or the plastic piles that build up in our oceans or landfill sites.
In 20 years, I think we'll look back with horror at how much we used them. We need to wake up, realise it isn't good, and change so our children and grandchildren have a better future.
I've never used wipes for cleaning, and it isn't a great hardship to simply get out a cloth and the right cleaning product to tackle a household job.
Not having wet wipes won't be the worst thing in the world – we're just dependent on them. And the quicker we ease off that addiction, the better.
The Miracle of Vinegar, by Aggie MacKenzie and Emma Marsden, is out now in paperback and priced £8.99.
We need to stop using wipes now for the sake of our children and grandchildren, says Aggie
Wet wipes containing toxic plastic could be banned under Government plans to clean up rivers and seas
Stricter labelling could also be brought in to urge consumers not to flush the single-use items down the toilet – even if they do not contain plastic.
Ministers are expected to announce the crackdown in the coming days, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Plastic-free wet wipes would be unaffected by any ban, and many manufacturers have already started to switch to more sustainable
