Marine Conservation Society
The Marine Conservation Society is a UK charity dedicated to caring for seas, shores and wildlife.
Cotton Bud Sticks
"Beachwatch 2006" beach cleanup resulted in a pile of cotton bud sticks.
Excerpt:
Cotton bud sticks (CBS) are almost exclusively made of plastic and will persist in the environment. Over half of the sewage related debris (SRD) by item numbers recorded during the Beachwatch surveys since 1993 has been made up of these sticks.During Beachwatch 2004, 87% of Sewage Related Debris found were Cotton Bud Sticks (CBS), and an average 154 CBS were found for every km of beach surveyed.
CBS are notorious for orientating themselves horizontally in sewers making it possible for them to pass through even very small mesh screens. They can also cause damage to drum screens, as observed in 1997 in the North of Scotland Water region (Ashley et al, 1999).
Sewage screen choked with cotton bud sticks, apparently removed for repair. Two or three mesh sections, centre-left, appear to be missing.
Blockages of sewage screens by CBS cost water companies money every year. They can cause sewage spills into rivers, and flooding of property. When flushed down the toilet these products can create blockages in pipes that normally only measure 15 cm in diameter. It has been estimated that two-thirds of all blockages are caused in this way. The blockages drastically reduce the efficiency of the sewerage system and add to the problem of sewage flowing into the rivers and seas.
Sanitary product manufacturers have been urged by MCS and the Bag It and Bin It' group to return to the paper-based cotton buds used until the late 1980s, and to label their cotton bud packaging with a message asking consumers not to flush them down the toilet.
Copyright: UK Marine Conservation Society
Excerpt:
In addition, sewage screening filters are like colanders with small 6mm holes, and even a baby wipe covering the holes can lead to a blockage, which in turn builds up pressure and can lead to a breakage (Anon., 2002). The most commonly found SRD item in Beachwatch has always been cotton bud stocks and these can pass through even very small mesh screens. Further, SRD probably has the highest monetary cost associated with its presence on our beaches, due to loss of tourism and the cost of blockage removal.Drains and domestic sewage pipes are on average no wider than 100mm, and are prone to blockages, with an estimate 75% of blockages involving disposable items. Millions of pounds are spent each year unblocking domestic sewers with the removal of some 55,000 to 200,000 tonnes of sanitary waste (National Bag It and Bin It Group, 1997).
Copyright: Beachwatch 2006: The Annual MCS UK Beach Litter Survey Report, page 8
Excerpt:
Over 38,000 SRD items were found during Beachwatch 2006, representing 10.4% of the total litter collected. Over the past eleven years, the vast majority of SRD items have been cotton bud sticks (CBS) making up 60% to over 80% of the total SRD recorded. As the majority of cotton bud sticks are made of plastic they persist for many years in the environment and are not filtered out by most water treatment plants.Copyright: UK Marine Conservation Society