The Australian consumer watchdog has launched Federal court proceedings against two producers of 'flushable' wipes. 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has its sights set on Kimberly-Clark, producer of Kleenex personal hygiene products, and Pental, which produces the White King brand of toilet cleaning wipes. 

In Australia, it is estimated that wet wipes marketed as 'flushable' do more than $15 million in damage to urban utilties' assets each year, blocking pipes, disrupting customers services and impacting the environment. 

The ACCC case alleges the companies each made false or misleading representations in relation to ‘flushable’ wipes they marketed and supplied in Australia.

More than 300 international water utilities and partner organisations have signed a global statement outlining that only the 3Ps – Pee, Poo and toilet Paper – should be flushed.

The international statement also includes key requirements for a future standard for products that seek to be considered ‘flushable’ and calls on manufacturers of wipes and personal hygiene products to give consumers unambiguous information about appropriate disposal methods.

The ACCC alleges that, by labelling these products as 'flushable', consumers were led to believe that the products had similar characteristics to toilet paper, would break up or disintegrate in a timeframe and manner similar to toilet paper, and were suitable to be flushed down the toilet, when this was not the case.

“The ACCC alleges that the impression given by the representations which Kimberly-Clark and Pental each made about these products was that they were suitable to be flushed down household toilets in Australia, when this was not the case,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

“These products did not, for example, disintegrate like toilet paper when flushed. Australian water authorities face significant problems when non-suitable products are flushed down the toilet as they contribute to blockages in household and municipal sewerage systems.”

The ACCC alleges that, between May 2013 and May 2016, Kimberly-Clark variously advertised its personal hygiene wipes, Kleenex Cottonelle Flushable Cleansing Cloths, as “flushable”, “completely flushable”, “able to be flushed in the toilet”, and able to “break down in sewerage system or septic tank”.

In the proceedings brought against Pental, the ACCC alleges that, between February 2011 and August 2016, Pental advertised its bathroom cleaning wipes, White King Power Clean Flushable Toilet Wipes (also called White King Flushable Bathroom Power Wipes) as a “flushable toilet wipe” that disintegrated like toilet paper.

Pental’s packaging and promotional materials included statements such as “Simply wipe over the hard surface of the toilet…and just flush away”, and that its flushable wipes “are made from a specially designed material, which will disintegrate in the sewage system when flushed, just like toilet paper”.

In both proceedings, the ACCC says it is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, injunctions, corrective notices, compliance program orders and costs.