'Stop flushing wet wipes down the toilet!' – Auckland Watercare launches public awareness campaign

Auckland Watercare has a message for the public as it starts a new awareness campaign: "Stop flushing wet wipes down the toilet!"

Although wet wipes are advertised as being flushable, the problem starts once they get around the s-bend.

"They don't break down basically in the wastewater system," Watercare Assets Protection Manager Peter Rogers told 1 NEWS. 

Wetwipes get entangled around Watercare's pumps because they roll up like a rope.

The Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant gets its fair share of the problem wipes.

"We've calculated it works out to around fifty three million wet wipes are arriving at this plant every year," Mr Rogers said.

The problem has been increasing in recent years, costing the country millions of dollars to fish out the offending waste to be dumped at landfills.

Mr Rogers from Watercare Assets has some advice to help alleviate the problem.

"Poo, pee and paper, those should be the only three things that should go down the toilet."

Watercare is joining forces with wastewater agencies in Australia, USA, Canada and Japan to determine an 'international flushability standard'.

It's hoped they can then advise manufacturers of what is required in a product that can be safely and environmentally flushed down a toilet.