Why is it that some wipes are flushable and some are not? Especially when some that ‘are’ feel so similar to some that ‘aren’t’.
In: Chemistry
The difference between something being flushable or not is whether it will break down and flow really through the pipes, or stay solid and clog them up.
Toilet paper and human waste for example easily break apart when wet and flushed down a pipe, so if a lever of toilet paper were to get caught, it would just rip and tear apart and get washed away.
A typical wipe on the other hand is made to be a lot tougher so you can use it to wipe down something without it breaking apart in your hand. What this means is that if it were to get caught somewhere in a pipe, rather than breaking apart it will stay whole, which blocks up the pipe and causes more stuff to get caught.
If a wipe is flushable, that means it should break apart and be washed down the pipe, rather than clogging it up. Whether any wipes can actually do this without being too weak to actually use without tearing and falling apart is debatable, and it is best not to flush anything tougher than toilet paper, including wipes claiming to be flushable add they can still cause problems even then.
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