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

Fleur Anderson Excerpts

Monday 3rd November 2025 General Committees

[Fleur Anderson (Putney) (Lab)]

I am delighted to speak in this Committee, having campaigned for this legislation for four years. In the UK, over 11 billion wet wipes are used annually—that is probably a conservative estimate; actually, far more are used—and wet wipes cause 93% of sewer blockages and fatbergs. Anyone who has seen a fatberg will not forget it, but water companies have to see them a lot because they are the main blockages in our pipes. They damage pipes and our water infrastructure, and they add huge sums to our water bills because of the cost of clearing them up. Water companies spend approximately £100 million a year clearing fatbergs, and that goes on to our bills. Anything we can do to reduce the problem will be a good thing for our bills, and for our constituents.

As my hon. Friend the Minister and the shadow Minister said, huge damage is also caused to the environment and to marine life. The microplastics from wet wipes get into the systems of marine life and cause damage, especially to fertility and to feeding.

Recently, a wet wipe island formed in the River Thames in the constituency of the hon. Member for Richmond Park. The island changed the course of the River Thames. It was the size of two tennis courts and at least a metre deep, and if you stood on it, you could feel its jelly-like texture. I am grateful to the Port of London Authority and to Thames21 volunteers for revealing the problem, and to the Port of London Authority for mapping the island with sonar from boats so that it could see the size of the island and see that it was growing. The island was removed this summer because the opening of Tideway has dramatically reduced the amount of wet wipes put out into the River Thames, and because this legislation was promised.

If there are fewer wet wipes with plastic in, fewer will stay forever—it is not known how long they will take to break down—in the banks of the River Thames. There is therefore a reason to clear the wet wipe island and ensure it is not refilled. That is good news. I also thank the Marine Conservation Society and Surfers Against Sewage. This campaign has been a team effort and, as the shadow Minister said, a cross-party effort.

For years, the Conservative Government promised to introduce this legislation, but they were not getting on with it, so in 2021 I introduced my private Member’s Bill. I did so again in 2022 and introduced a ten-minute rule Bill in 2022. In the meantime, I worked with water companies across the UK so that the campaigning on this issue would be less confusing. It was “fine to flush” in some areas and there were different campaigns by different water companies. Now there is a unified effort by all the water companies together to have the same public messaging. The threat of the ban encouraged Tesco and Boots to go plastic-free for all the wipes sold in their stores for any use—baby wipes, cosmetic wipes, cleaning wipes and so on. There really should not be all those wipes but those in Tesco and Boots have been guaranteed plastic-free since 2023.

The main message must be: do not flush any wipes. No wipes are fine to flush. Even the ones that can be broken down join with fat and cause blockages, so they should not be flushed. As has been mentioned, the issue is similar to the plastic bag ban and the change brought about by Government regulation as well as behavioural change by the public. There is a clear message that we should all send.

It is great that Wales is the first country in the world to legislate on this issue—the legislation is coming in very soon. Scotland has plans to bring this measure in soon, and in November 2024 the Northern Ireland Executive notified the World Trade Organisation of their intent to legislate. We look forward to the Northern Ireland Executive introducing their regulations as soon as possible, so that the whole of the United Kingdom is lined up on this issue.

The industry has said that it is great to have 18 months, but I know from talking to the industry that it will take less than 18 months because there are alternatives that can be brought in at the same cost. That will make a huge difference to the amount of plastic in our rivers and waterways. Plastic comes from fossil fuels and is very hard to get rid of at the end of its life. Extended producer responsibility remains an issue. The wet wipe companies are not paying for the clean-up, which is paid for by us through our water bills. That is a problem. We have to keep working on labelling, as well as single-use plastic. However, the regulations are a huge step in the right direction. I am enormously grateful to the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice, for the amount of work that she has done on this. She came into office determined to get this measure through, and she has. She deserves huge credit for that.

I am very excited to be here today and working with so many people across the House and across the country on a small statutory instrument about a small item, a wet wipe, that will make a huge difference to our water bills and the environment. I am delighted that we have these regulations. I look forward to working with all the Members here and across the House to continue our work towards the circular economy.