An Estonian company, called Satu Laboratory, has created a gel that it claims turns toilet paper into a wet wipe and can be used instead of store-bought traditional wipes that, according to the lab, aren’t truly flushable.
According to the company, traditional wet wipes – like baby wipes, facial wipes, moist flushable wipes and others – are putting sewer systems and nature “under great stress”.
“Every week in the UK alone, millions of wipes are flushed down the loo, causing enormous damage to our nature. Mounds of wet wipes are even reshaping river Thames waterway,” the company said in a statement, using the British term “loo” to illustrate the toilet bowl.
The company cites a British MP, Fleur Anderson, who it claims to have said that the people in the UK use 11 billion wet wipes a year and 90% of them contain plastic. “Flushing the odd wet wipe may not seem like a big deal, but there are 300,000 blockages every year in our sewers,” the company says the MP had asserted.
Hundreds of tons of wet wipes in wastewater
“This is echoed around the world. WSSC Water workers in the United States removed about 700 tons of wipes in 2020 at its largest wastewater pumping station and they serve only 1.8 million residents in the Maryland suburbs,” Satu Laboratory noted.
“The problem is even worse when you look around the country. A few years back, New York went to war against so called ‘flushable’ wet wipes and municipalities around the country are doing the same. In October 2021, California passed ‘Do Not Flush’ wipes law.”
To help with the situation, Satu Laboratory has developed a new toilet paper gel that “can turn toilet paper into instant wet wipe that is effective and truly flushable”, according to the company.
“The innovative feature of this gel is the option to use it in combination with any regular toilet paper without immediately damaging the paper,” Siim Saat, the founder of Satu Laboratory said. The company added that already, “this solution has helped prevent almost 15 million wipes from being flushed or thrown away”.
Your ass will thank you
Besides environmental issues, there is a rarely talked self-care aspect.
“When it comes to number two, we all know regular dry toilet paper doesn’t do the job on its own. It leaves too much grime behind and doesn’t give you that clean feeling you need to have a great day. Consider this. Which one of us would use just dry paper to clean grime from hands? But for bottom this is seen as ‘normal’.”
“Just a drop or two of gel added to ordinary toilet paper, and you’ll feel shower fresh and clean, wherever you are. And your underpants – spotless. Your partner will thank you too, as bad hygiene is constantly rated as one of the major turn-offs for both sexes,” according to the company.
Satu Laboratory is headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. It says its brand is available in Estonia, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Sweden.
The cover image is illustrative. Image by Satu Laboratory.
