14 DAY TRIAL // It's a well-known fact that people use to put a lot of inappropriate objects down their toilets and sinks causing blockages into the municipal drain and sewer network. But a bigger problem is when the pipes get clogged with items that are advertised as “flushable.”
That's why, a New York man decided to sue the makers of moistened wipes advertised as flushable after the napkins allegedly obstructed the pipes in his home.
Dentist Joseph Kurtz, 35, filed a federal class action lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark and Costco Wholesale corporations, the makers of the faulty products, and seeks damages of at least $5 million (€3.6 million).
“The defendants should have known that their representations regarding flushable wipes were false and misleading,” states Kurtz in the complaint, according to ABC News.
The man says he had to spend $600 (€436) in plumbers' fees to clear the pipes at his New York and New Jersey homes. He claims the clogging issues in his homes were a direct result of him disposing flushable wipes down the toilet. “They do not break down as manufacturers advertise,” says the lawsuit referring to the wipes.
The suit was filed on February 21 in Brooklyn Federal Court, Eastern District of New York, and represents 100 people. According to court records, the lawsuit claims that consumers around the country have suffered problems due to blockages in their pipes, jammed sewers and flooding, all caused by the use of flushable wipes.
Vincent Sapienza, a representative for the NYC Department Of Environmental Protection, reveals that the municipality spends nearly $18 million (€13 million) a year to remove debris from the sewer system, most of which have been flushable wipes in recent years.
“The increase in clogs and problems we’ve been having in New York City—it seems to almost correlate directly with the increase in sales of these flushable wipes,” said Sapienza.
“They make it all the way to the plant and they just wrap themselves around our equipment.”
The state agency recommends that people dispose of household waste responsibly, and do not flush these wipes down their toilets.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Cottonelle wipes, issued a statement saying, “Kimberly-Clark has an extensive testing process to ensure that our flushable wipes products meet or exceed all industry guidelines and we stand behind our claims of flushability.”
However, it seems that there are no legal requirements that a product must meet in order to prove that it is “flushable.”