Environmental Protection (Wet Wipes Containing Plastic) (England) Regulations 2025

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Monday 10th November 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her positive introduction to this important SI. Plastic and microplastic pollution is a scourge of the modern age that did not exist when I was a child, and which must be tackled effectively if we are to save countless species. Unlike many previous SIs I have spoken on, this one has a thorough impact assessment. Although I cannot claim to have read all 55 pages in depth, it was clear enough to provide easily accessible information.

Wet wipes are responsible for a disproportionate number of blockages in our sewage system. They also litter the banks of our rivers and streams, and cause huge pollution on our seashores.

I am grateful to the Marine Conservation Society for its brief. Currently, 11 billion wet wipes are used every year in the UK. Some 54% of UK beach cleans found wet wipes, of which nearly two-thirds contained plastic. Despite wet wipes being marketed as flushable, many do not break down in water and, as we know, end up as sewage and other debris on our beaches and in the sea.

I am concerned that the enforcement and policing of this SI is again down to local authorities and trading standards officers, at a time when local authority budgets are under some of the most severe pressures they have ever faced. Can the Minister say whether local authorities will receive extra money for this increased responsibility?

I am sympathetic towards the Government’s intentions in this SI, but I feel that an opportunity is being lost and that more could be done at this time—something to which nearly every speaker has referred. A ban on plastic in wet wipes is welcome but, in terms of labelling, is it not time for all wet wipes to be classed as unflushable and for that to be said in large lettering on their packages? With childcare wet wipes being responsible for 18,477 million items in 2021, they are by far the largest consumer. It cannot be much more effort for a parent or carer to put a used wet wipe in a rubbish bin than it is to flush it down the toilet; I am pleased that the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, agrees with me on this.

Every baby and small child deserves the right to grow up in a society where plastic is not ruining the environment and overloading our inadequate sewage systems. Larger, adequate signing on the packaging would make a huge difference in ensuring that no wet wipes enter the sewage system. This would include those made from lyocell and viscose being treated the same as plastic, as these materials take a long time to decompose; the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, referred to this.

The IA makes it clear that microplastics are damaging and disrupting our aquatic systems, resulting in the extinction of some marine organisms. Wet wipes are one of the chief culprits here. Although I support this SI, I ask the Minister: why have the Government not gone further and banned all wet wipes, even those with no plastic content, being flushed? This is a missed opportunity.

The table on page 12 of the IA shows that those using wet wipes for cosmetic purposes are getting the message. In 2018, 2,485 million wipes were used for cosmetic purposes; this had dropped to 1,205 million by 2021. Although that is still a huge amount, it shows that some consumers are reading the packaging and attempting to play their part.

Again, the IA informs us that humans consume 5 grams of plastic a week—the equivalent of a credit card—with microplastics. This is horrendous. As microplastics are also being found in human blood, surely it is time to take this issue more seriously. This ban is not being implemented for 18 months, which is too long; six months is plenty of time for such a ban to be introduced. Those currently using wet wipes will continue to do so regardless of whether they can flush them or bin them. The Environment Act calls loudly for the polluter to pay, and this instrument moves us some way towards that goal—though not quickly enough.

I welcome the Minister’s comments on the impending strategy on plastics, which I look forward to. I agree with all of the comments made by previous speakers, and I look forward to the Minister’s comments on this vital issue.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, His Majesty’s loyal Opposition are supportive of these regulations, which seek to ban wet wipes containing plastic. We commend the Government on pressing ahead with this important measure, which was first initiated by the previous Conservative Government in 2024. It is both a long-overdue and necessary step in tackling the scourge of plastic pollution, which finds its way into our rivers, on to our beaches and, ultimately, into our oceans.

These regulations are sensible, proportionate and practical. However, while this statutory instrument will eliminate one major source of plastic pollution, it will not solve the wider problem of what we are flushing down and into our sewer system. Wet wipes and other waste continue to create enormous fatbergs in our sewers. Oils, grease and wipes congeal into solid mounds that block the network, leading to flooding and enormous clean-up costs. Water UK tells us that 93% of sewage blockages are caused by wet wipes, costing around £100 million per year to clear. We have seen gruesome evidence of this: the 250-metre fatberg in Whitechapel in 2017, which weighed in at 130 tonnes, and, more recently, the so-called wet wipe island on the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge.

Even so-called plastic-free wipes are not a simple solution. Whether they are made from cotton, bamboo or viscose, they remain single-use products with significant environmental footprints and the liquids they contain often include palm oil or chemical preservatives that can damage our rivers. Nor does “biodegradable” mean what many people assume it does, as highlighted by the noble Baronesses, Lady Redfern and Lady Bennett. In laboratory tests, everything eventually breaks down, but our sewers are not—and should not be—laboratories. As the Rivers Trust has pointed out, these wipes are not designed to disintegrate quickly, so they continue to block pipes and form fatbergs. The only gain is that they no longer shed microplastics.

While His Majesty’s loyal Opposition fully support this ban, we must not imagine that it will end the fatberg menace. Plastic-free wipes, whether cleaning, make-up or baby wipes, behave nothing like toilet paper. They cling to grease, oils and other debris, creating the vast sewer monsters that cost millions to remove and drive up consumers’ water bills. Only last month, Thames Water cleared a 100-tonne fatberg from a sewer in Feltham in west London. Some 10 metres below ground, engineers had to blast, chisel and vacuum out 125 metres of congealed fat, oil and wet wipes—a blockage weighing as much as eight double-decker buses. The waste had to be craned out in skips and sent to landfill. Thames Water described the clearance as “hugely complex” and reminded us that, while some fatbergs weigh the same as 25 elephants, most blockages begin in small local pipes where sewage can back up into our streets, our rivers and people’s homes.

What can we do? Either we press manufacturers to create wipes that truly disintegrate or we accept that fatbergs, floods and higher water bills are here to stay. This statutory instrument is a necessary and welcome step and we commend the Government on carrying forward the initiative begun in 2024, but please let us not assume that our drains will run clear all of a sudden. Until both product design and public habits change, the fatbergs will keep on coming.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for taking part in today’s debate and for their contributions. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to bring this important debate to the House of Lords. It has been a really interesting discussion. I am grateful for the broad support but, clearly, there is a range of views as to how best to introduce this measure and what it should contain. It is clear that we are all quite passionate about this, so it has been a really good debate. I will try to pick up most of the issues and questions raised.

A number of noble Lords asked about the issues around manufacture. Banning the supply and sale of wet wipes containing plastic is in line with most other recent single-use plastic bans where manufacture of the products has not been banned. One problem is the size of the wet wipes industry in the UK, and because of that we need to act carefully to ensure the ban is both proportionate and effective, much as the noble Earl just said.

We need to mitigate any economic impact of the ban and reduce the possibility of job losses in the industry. It is also important, however, that our domestic wet wipes manufacturers remain competitive in international markets; I will come to that later. We want to continue to encourage manufacturers to move to a position where all their wet wipes are plastic free. Most manufacturers have already started this transition to producing plastic-free wipes; the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, talked about the amount of notice they have been given. I confirm that we are not ruling out a ban on manufacture at a later date. We will consider whether this is necessary once the ban on supply and sale has come into force.