Home » Sydney Water Advises What NOT To Put Down The Toilet In “Can’t Flush This” Campaign

6 October, 2021

Sydney Water Advises What NOT To Put Down The Toilet In “Can’t Flush This” Campaign

Sydney Water is taking the fight to the common household products wreaking havoc on the wastewater network and customer’s homes, with the launch of a new campaign that was done in-house.

“It’s Best to Bin It” targets what can and can’t be flushed down the toilet or tipped into the sink, to stop blockages leaving customers with hefty clean-up bills and damaging the environment.

The campaign introduces us to the bathroom baddies, The Unflushables, and the kitchen nasties, The Unsinkables. These evil characters represent the hundreds of tonnes of waste that clog up our pipes and have to be removed from our waterways and wastewater system each year.

Sydney Water’s head of customer, strategy and engagement, Maryanne Graham said the campaign will be a game changer in shifting customer behaviour.

“The campaign is the perfect blend of pop-culture, humour and a serious topic to cut-through on an uncomfortable conversation many of us don’t want to have,” Graham said.

“The reality is wet wipes, fats, oils and grease and other items like cotton buds, tissues and sanitary products are a major threat to our wastewater network.”

“Around 75 per cent of wastewater blockages involve flushable wet wipes. The cost to Sydney Water of removing the 500 tonnes of flushed wet wipes from the wastewater system is upwards of $8 million every year.”

“It’s all about highlighting the simple things our customers can do to save on their own clean-up bills and protect the environment, by remembering it’s best to bin it,” Ms Graham said.

The campaign is supported by recent data showing many people in Greater Sydney –particularly those aged 18-29, male and in culturally and linguistically diverse communities – are unsure what to do.

The ads introduce our friends The Flush Mob: pee, poo, and (toilet) paper. These are only types of waste you can safely flush that won’t cause you problems.

The Unflushables include wet wipes, cotton buds, tissues, dental floss, hair, cleaning cloths, and sanitary products. These products always need to be binned.

The Unsinkables are fats, oils, and grease as well as other kitchen items like coffee grounds and food scraps. When these products go down the drain, they solidify and harden in the wastewater network, creating blockages in our pipes. Customers are urged to safely dispose of these items in a container and put them in the bin.

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