BRADFORD'S Yorkshire Water has backed a ban on plastics in wet wipes in a bid to prevent sewer blockages after the wipes are incorrectly flushed down the toilet.

The firm has called for both wet wipes and all single-use sanitary products to be included in the plastics ban, as well as an end of labelling which indicates these products are 'Fine to Flush'.

Instead they want mandatory 'Do Not Flush' warnings on the packaging of single use sanitary items.

Last year, almost half of the blockages Yorkshire Water removed from its sewer network were caused by wet wipes being incorrectly flushed down toilets, costing millions of pounds to resolve.

Ben Roche, director of wastewater at Yorkshire Water, said: “Wet wipes containing plastic, which do not break down in the sewer like toilet paper, are regularly flushed into our sewer network. These have a significant impact on the operation of our network and can lead to restricted toilet use, sewage entering homes and gardens, sewage escapes into the local environment or pollution to local watercourses."

The firm has also called for an extension of the responsibility of manufacturers to cover the cost of educating customers about correct methods of disposal, and clean-up costs resulting from incorrect disposal.