Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Metro Vancouver Launches Unflushables Campaign

Metro Vancouver is rolling out a new campaign, The Unflushables, in hopes of educating residents to stop dumping items down the drain that clog the municipal and regional sewer system. This is a national problem and the cost of dealing with this issue across Canada has been estimated at $250 million. The 2017 Unflushables campaign, which launched yesterday, will focus on the worst offenders for clogged drains, such as wipes, paper towels, dental floss, hair, tampons and applicators, and condoms, as well as medications.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the items that people flush, but it’s the everyday objects that people often don’t think about that can cause the biggest problems,” said Metro Vancouver Utilities chair Darrell Mussatto. “It costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars to deal with clogs, damage to equipment, sewage overflows and environmental impacts as a result of these things ending up in our wastewater infrastructure.” Besides items that typically clog drains and sewers, medications will also have a prominent role in this year’s campaign. “Although they aren’t responsible for clogging our infrastructure, medications are another item that our residents need to be conscious about,” said director Mussatto. “Flushing medications is problematic as it is […]

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