Metro Vancouver is calling on the federal government to clearly define what should be flushed down the toilet as it continues to deal with the ongoing problem of clogged sewers.
“When wipes and other unflushable products are flushed down the toilet, they can clog pipes and sewers and this leads to an estimated $250 million a year of extra costs across Canada,” Dana Zheng, manager of Metro Vancouver Liquid Waste Source Control told Global News.
“In our region alone, we estimate an additional $2 million per year is spent managing wipes.”
Zheng said people flush these wipes because they are marketed as flushable but they are not.
“They don’t break down like toilet paper and they can cause massive clogs in pipes within homes as well as in our sewers and at our pump stations,” she added.
“And if our sewers and pump stations are clogged with these pipes, they’re not effectively able to convey wastewater, which means that sewage can overflow into homes, onto streets and into the environment.”
In October, Metro Vancouver posted photos of fatbergs, which are massive chunks of hardened grease, fat and oil stuck in pipes.
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The district said 50 tonnes of fatbergs were recently removed from the sewer system in Richmond.
These were caused by oil and grease being poured down sinks and hardening with products such as ‘flushable wipes’ and then clogging sewers.
Zheng said there is a lack of regulations regarding these wipes.
“For years now, municipalities across Canada have been advocating the federal government to stop manufacturers from using the term ‘flushable’ unless their products are actually flushable,” she said.
“But the stumbling block is that the federal government doesn’t have a standard definition for what is flushable. So last week, the Metro Vancouver board just approved a staff proposal to call on the federal government to support the development of a flushability standard.”
Zheng added that with this standard they hope there will be legislation or regulation to stop manufacturers from using the term ‘flushable’ unless their products can be flushed down the toilet.
She said the board is submitting a resolution through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which will be coming up in 2025.
In a statement, the Competition Bureau said it opened an investigation in 2019 in response to a complaint about the marketing of wipes as “flushable” being deceptive. The Bureau discontinued its investigation in 2022 in light of competing guidelines about when a product can be considered to be flushable in Canada.
“The regulation of municipal wastewater systems falls to provinces and territories to administer,” the organization said in a statement.
“This means that under Canada’s constitutional division of powers, the federal government cannot adopt a binding national standard in this area. The federal government also cannot prevent the sale or use of certain products for this purpose.
“The adoption of any standard by relevant authorities could however be a factor in the interpretation of what constitutes misleading advertising under the Competition Act, enabling federal law to support effective enforcement.
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