CHAPTER II

THE FOUR REASONS WHY WE MUST NOT USE WIPES

A. OVERVIEW

Wipes can be a paper, tissue or nonwoven cloth; they are subjected to light rubbing

or friction, in order to remove dirt or liquid from the surface. Consumers want wipes

to absorb, retain or release dust or liquid on demand. One of the main benefits that

wipes provide is convenience using a wipe is quicker and easier than the alternative

of dispensing a liquid and using another cloth/paper towel to clean or remove the liquid.

Wipes started at the bottom or more precisely, the babys bottom. Yet, during the past

decade, the category has grown to include hard surface cleaning, makeup applications

and removal, dusting and floor cleaning. In fact, applications other than baby care now

account for about 50% of sales in the wipes category.

Wipes mainly cater into three categories, such as:

1. Personal Care wipes

Baby wipes

Baby wipes are wet wipes used to cleanse the sensitive skin of infants. These are

saturated with solutions anywhere from gentle cleansing ingredients to alcohol-based

cleaners. Baby wipes are typically sold in plastic tubs that keep the cloths moist and

allow for easy dispensing.

Cleansing pads

Cleansing pads are fiber sponges that have been previously soaked with water, alcohol

and other active ingredients for a specific intended use. There are different types of

cleansing pads offered by the beauty industry: makeup removing pads, anti-spot

treatments and anti-acne pads that usually contain salicylic acid, vitamins, menthol and

other treatments). Cleansing pads for preventing infection are usually saturated with

alcohol and bundled in sterile package. Hands and instrument may be disinfected with

these pads while treating wounds. Disinfecting cleansing pads are often included in

first aid kits for this purpose.

Pain relief

These are pain relief pads sopping with alcohol and benzocaine. These pads are

good for treating minor scrapes, burns, and insect bites. They disinfect the injury and

also ease pain and itching.

Personal hygiene

These are usually pre-moistened and come either individually packaged or in one

larger container that can be resealed. These kinds of wipes can be useful when youre

doing outdoor activities, especially during warmer weather. The wipes can remove dirt
and sweat before they settle into your pores. Some no-rinse wipes can even remove

waterproof makeup.

Pet care

Today, one can find even wet wipes for pet care, for example eye, ear, or dental

cleansing pads (with boric acid, potassium chloride, zinc sulfate, sodium borate) for

dogs, cats, horses, and birds

2. Household & home cleaning wipes

There are some kinds of wipes which are included in Household and home cleaning

wipes, namely kitchen wipes, bathroom wipes, food service wipes, glass surface

cleaning wipes, and automotive wipes. Even this wipes almost have same function but

it has a little bit different. For kitchen and bathroom wipes, usually their wipes will

have disinfectant to clean surface and also killing germs and bacteria. For food service

wipes, it has function to clean our mouth or hands after washing it with soap and this

wipes can usually be found in restaurant. And for glass surface cleaning wipes and

automotive care wipes, it usually to clean fingerprints, smudges, and splatters without

need to spray it. With glass surface cleaning wipes, it can be simple.

3. Industrial cleaning wipes.

People usually use degreasing or Machinery cleaning wipes for industry. When

it comes to industrial applications, choosing the right wipe for the job can make an
 enormous difference in terms of performance, efficiency and economy. Rags and

laundered cloths were once the all-purpose solution for wiping dirt and oils from

equipment and hands. Convenient disposable wipes are now widely recognized as

the preferred alternative.

B. THE FOUR REASONS WHY WE MUST NOT USE WIPES

Actually, we are not suggested to use wipes for some reasons. Unfortunately, we

never realize the bad impacts of using wipes for our daily activities. The following are

some bad impacts of using wipes.

1. Loading up the landfills

Approximately 90-95% of American babies use 27.4 billion single-use,

plastic diapers every year. This generates 7.6 billion pounds of garbage
each yearenough waste to fill Yankee Stadium 15 times over, or stretch
to the moon and back 9 times. Every year. Disposable diapers are the 3rd
largest consumer item in landfills, and represent 30% of non-
biodegradable waste. The only other items that outnumber the amount of
disposables in landfills are newspapers and beverage and food containers.

Based on www.smallfootprintfamily.com

Loading up the landfills is one of the reasons why we must not use wipes. In

this case, Adam Page, a business manager for market research publisher Smithers

Apex, says The wipes market currently valued at $13.2bn has been growing at 6%

to 7% percent annually for much of the past decade. Smithers Apex predicts it will

continue to grow at a compound annual rate of 6.8% until at least 2019. Not just that,
European is the one of country that their wipes market steadily increasing from 2008

until 2016.

Wipes business sector are really popular, of course there are reasons why this

happens. This is because wipes are very handy to have around, and people never give

much thought to the environment when using them. Now, it seems that our lazy ways

to throw them away has become more terrible. According to Marine Conservation

Societys (MCS), the number of used wet wipes littering UK beaches has increased by

50% in 2014. It proof that people just use wipes, they make wipes market get successful

but they are not be responsible for our environment which will be in danger later on.

2. Clogging sewer system

Sewer system is a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water. Many

household products are labeled and marketed as disposable and/or flushable, and also
baby and adult personal hygiene products, along with household wipes and cleaning

towelletes are labeled both disposable and flushable. While these products may be

marketed as a convenience item in this way, the truth is that these types of items have

the ability to clog and stop up not only the sewer line on our property, but also can

cause blockage and service problems in the public sewer system and pump stations.

In sewer system, many people just throw the wipes everywhere and erroneously

choose wipes. People do not just get confused in choosing wipes that can be flushable.

Sometimes wipes that have labeled flushable wipes is still not easy to be degraded.

They just throw it after using wipes down to the toilet without thinking that it will cause

several problems. In fact, it only takes a few flushed wet wipes to cause a clog,

mixed with fats or oils call fatberg and cause blockage in public sewers.

According to The New York Times, in 2013 a utility company in London

removed a 15-ton fatberg from a sewer system. The Guardian reports that New York

City has spent $18 million on wipe-related equipment problems in the past five years,

and residents of Kent, a county in the UK, were dumping an estimated 2,000 tons of

wet wipes into sewers.

3. Killing aquatic animals

Without us knowing, we often forget the same marine ecosystem. The sea has

the ability to absorb carbon (CO2) quite large. The sea can absorb up to 43.6% of the
world's carbon content. Unfortunately, the ability of the sea is lacking because the

ecosystem is being damaged.

The wipes wash up on beaches all around the world. A 2014 estimate from the

MCS says that there are approximately 35 wipes per kilometer of beach in Britain a

50% increase from 2013. It is related to the case that wipes can actually kill aquatic

animals. Because labeled flushable in wipes, still does not guarantee that wipe can

be degradable. Because wet wipes are technically disposable does not mean that they

can magically disintegrate. Instead, they can easily be carried away to somewhere else,

out of sight, and causing problem. Such as turtles, who mistaking that they are jellyfish

and eventually die. (The same thing happens with plastic bags.) Marine Conservation

society (MCS) Charlotte coombs said when marine wildlife eats that plastic, which

they quite often do, it just stays in the stomach of the animal and quite often they just

die of starvation.

Of course not just wet wipes but all things that made of plastic can be in sea

and cause danger effect to aquatic animal. But because wipes are getting popular and

people become addicted, we need to reduce usage with this or at least throw it to bin.

4. Being difficult to be degraded

Wipes is an important thing in our daily need. Because it is important, it is

better if wipes contain substance which safe for our body and for our environment.
According to the growing news, wipes cannot easily to degraded even it is not wet

wipes. Degraded is material that will undergo a process of deterioration or breaking-up

by the action of natural forces (air, light, water) or by the addition of certain chemicals.

One company, Water and sewerage service in Tasmania, mention this photo

in their Twitter. They do the experiment with baby wipes and still unchanged after

18 months. "Flushable" wipes are still in the same shape. Pipe blockages are not

the only reason that wet wipes are problematic though. According to The

Telegraph, many wet wipe brands contain plastic and also means that they never

quite break down entirely: over time, they turn into micro plastic, which can pose

a big threat to marine life if they end up in the water. But, Now the Marine

Conservation Society (MCS) has launched a campaign to persuade retailers and

manufacturers to clearly label their wet wipe products with a "don't flush" message on

their package so they go in the bin instead of the toilet. Dr. Laura Foster, MCS head of
pollution, said: "Our sewer systems are not built to cope with wet wipes. When

flushed, they do not disintegrate like toilet paper, and they typically contain plastic. So,

once they reach the sea, they last for a very long time.