Wet Wipes: Plastic Ban

Bayo Alaba Excerpts

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Mr Bayo Alaba (Southend East and Rochford) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) for securing this important debate. I appreciate her tireless work to ban plastic fibres in wet wipes.

Wet wipes are an everyday household item. When flushed, they do not break down. They block sewers, pollute waterways and harm marine life. I represent a beautiful coastal community whose coastline must be protected. Unfortunately, I continue to hear from residents on Thorpe Hall Avenue who are distressed by flooding in their homes time and again—only last week they were flooded. Alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West and Leigh (David Burton-Sampson), I continue to campaign for cleaner water, improved flood defence infrastructure, and greater accountability from Anglian Water.

Through Southend’s water quality summits, which I co-chair, we have heard directly from residents and local organisations. The message is clear: our communities deserve better. Under the previous Government, water companies were left unregulated, polluting our coastlines while executives paid themselves millions in bonuses. That is unacceptable and not what this Government stand for. Our Government have acted. The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 is a landmark piece of legislation that bans bonuses for water company bosses, and it introduced criminal charges for individuals who attempt to cover up sewage spills. The goal is to fundamentally transform the culture of the water industry. This summer the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced measurable targets for the first time. Those targets will hold water companies to account. Previous Governments have failed to ban wet wipes. It is the Government’s will to bring a ban into effect. We are a Government of action, not words.

Every year the UK uses approximately 11 billion wet wipes, and industry reports indicate that most of those contain plastic fibres. According to research, more than 90% of fatbergs found in our sewers are made up of wet wipes, which cause blockages that result in sewage flooding in homes and pollution in our rivers.

Anglian Water estimates that about 500,000 wet wipes are flushed into the east of England’s sewer system every day. That figure highlights the significant scale of the problem, which is why I fully support our Government’s commitment to banning the sale and supply of wet wipes that contain plastic fibres. Such action will reduce marine litter, decrease pollution and support progress towards a zero waste economy. However, we must continue with this progress.

I urge the Minister to ensure that manufacturers cannot label wet wipes as flushable or disposable. Those misleading claims cause confusion and directly contribute to sewer blockages, flooding and environmental damage. Will the Minister commit to meeting me to address the marketing and labelling of wet wipes, so that together we can put an immediate stop to these harmful and misleading practices that damage our environment?

Southend’s coastline is vital to our community and local economy. Flooding continues to cause stress and disruption to residents across my constituency. We must ensure that our rivers, seas and beaches remain clean and safe for generations to come. I am proud to support the ban and look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.