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Andrex Washlets receive Water UK ‘Fine to Flush’ status

Andrex Washlets
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Written by Tim Barnes-Clay

The well-known household brand achieves an environmentally-friendly certification from Water UK.

Andrex, one of the UK’s largest household names, is now the first major brand to receive Water UK’s ‘Fine to Flush’ certification. The accreditation scientifically tests whether flushable wipes can be flushed down toilets and pass safely through sewer systems and will it sit across the full Andrex Washlets range.  

It comes at a time when recent investigations into the UK sewer system discovered that wipes (such as baby wipes, cosmetic wipes and household cleaning wipes) are typically found in  60 to 75 per cent of sewer blockages. For context, Thames Water alone clears about 75,000 blockages from its network of sewers each year, costing an average of £18m.

Natural fibres

The new Andrex Washlets disperse faster than the previous product making them easier to break down for the UK sewer systems. What’s more the products continue to be biodegradable, made from 100 per cent natural fibres and contain 0 per cent plastic.

Over the past 12 months, a massive six million households in the UK have purchased moist toilet tissues, over three million of which have chosen Andrex Washlets when doing so. This means one in two households that are purchasing moist toilet tissue will be choosing products deemed safe by Water UK for the sewer system.

Recent consumer insights from Kimberly-Clark, the manufacturer of Andrex, found that over a third of consumers were concerned with the flushability of moist toilet tissue and their impact on sewer systems.

Proud investment

Ori Ben Shai, Vice President & Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark UK, said: “Our Andrex Washlets have adhered to international flushable standards for many years and we are very proud of the investment we have made to now also secure Water UK’s ‘Fine to Flush’ certification.”

While Christine McGourty, Chief Executive of Water UK, said: “This is a great step forward in the fight against fatbergs. In the water industry, we’re passionate about protecting the environment and we want other companies to follow the example of Andrex and make sure their products pass the ‘Fine to Flush’ test too.”

The new Andrex Classic Clean Washlets packs carrying the Fine to Flush logo will start to appear on major supermarket shelves (available in Tesco from today), with the logo rolling out across the rest of the Andrex Washlets range, such as Skin Kind and Gentle Clean, from spring 2020. The brand is also working on new recyclable packaging for its Washlets.

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