WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under a new settle with the Federal Trade Commission, Nice-Pak Products, a manufacturer of wet wipes, agreed to stop advertising their wipes can be flushed.
It also agreed to stop claiming their wipes were safe for sewer and septic tanks.
“The evidence didn’t back up Nice-Pak’s claims that their wipes were safe to flush,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “If you claim a product is flushable, it needs to flush in the real world, without clogging household plumbing or sewer and septic systems.”
According to the news release, Nice-Pak violated the FTC Act after it made the claim it’s wet wipes were safe for sewer and septic systems and that they were designed to break apart once flushed.
The FTC said the company has not produced any evidence that supported those claims.
In April, we told you how the City of Memphis said wet wipes are clogging sewer pipes and breaking equipment.
We were told sewer crews are spending a lot of time unclogging pipes due to the wipes.
The city went so far as to spend four million dollars on a machine that pulls wipes out of the sewer system before they go into the treatment plant.
Nice-Pak released the following statement on the FTC Agreement:
“All claims related to our current flushable product portfolio are fully substantiated as safe to flush, and the Consent Agreement does not required any change to our existing products or claims. Nice-Pak entered into a voluntary Consent Agreement with the FTC regarding certain wipe products labeled as flushable. While the products that were the focus of the FTC’s inquiry at all times were subject to extensive testing on flushability, we are pleased to bring a resolution to this matter in an amicable manner. These products have been discontinued since 2014.”
They continued by saying, ” We will also continue our leadership position in proactively educating consumers on safe flushable practices, including labeling all of our non-flushable wipes with a prominent “Do Not Flush” logo. ”
The wet wipe manufacturer now has to prove the claims or remove it from its products.