View Full Version : Biodegradable Wet Wipes
bamboo bob
02-27-2014, 18:52
I was reading a news item about wipes clogging waste water plants. Are there any wet wipes that can be realistically buried? Do they burn? Can they be composted? I put coffee filters in the compost, and they seem to disappear into the garden come spring.
Anyone ever work on an AT composting job might know. Are the brands different. I see green ads.
fins1838
02-27-2014, 18:57
Coleman Biowipes
fins1838
02-27-2014, 18:58
Evaporate in 21 days
fins1838
02-27-2014, 18:59
Or I should say decompose...not evaporate
rocketsocks
02-27-2014, 19:08
I was reading a news item about wipes clogging waste water plants. Are there any wet wipes that can be realistically buried? Do they burn? Can they be composted? I put coffee filters in the compost, and they seem to disappear into the garden come spring.
Anyone ever work on an AT composting job might know. Are the brands different. I see green ads.As one who has worked not only at waste water facility's, I've also worked where lasers are used to make many of these non woven materials, and yes they do play havoc on equipment. I do not know of the many brands out there, just that they shouldn't be flushed if not biodegradable...thanks for that reminder Bamboo Bob.
Our composting privies end up with lots of non-decomposing wipes of one form or another that have to be separated and carried out. It is a chore to separate them from the actual compost, but they are not the only things that survive the composting process, unfortunately.
I'd say best if you can do without them, but sometimes you need a higher degree of cleaning than TP can provide on its own--at least until your skin toughens up and and you loose some weight.
Cosmo
Pedaling Fool
03-01-2014, 19:54
What are these wipes made from? Unless there is some plastic in there they are biodegradable. Biodegradabilty doesn't really have to do time frame. Some things just take longer, like eggshells and wood and many other things. Even rocks are subject to biodegradation, not just weathering/erosion http://dwb4.unl.edu/Chem/CHEM869P/CHEM869PLinks/www.bact.wisc.edu/microtextbook/metabolism/lithotrophs.html
BTW, just an interesting thing that seems to be happening to all the plastic in the oceans http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682478/welcome-to-the-plastisphere-the-new-world-of-microbes-living-on-ocean-plastic
Pedaling Fool
03-01-2014, 19:57
As one who has worked not only at waste water facility's, I've also worked where lasers are used to make many of these non woven materials, and yes they do play havoc on equipment. I do not know of the many brands out there, just that they shouldn't be flushed if not biodegradable...thanks for that reminder Bamboo Bob.I didn't mean to sound as if I was contradicting you; I agree that they should never be flushed.
rocketsocks
03-01-2014, 23:35
I didn't mean to sound as if I was contradicting you; I agree that they should never be flushed.
No Sir, didn't take it that way at all, in fact I should not have suggested that non-woven are not biodegradable...as they may very well be. Water sure is the great equalizer and given enough time will dissolve just about anything.
rocketsocks
03-01-2014, 23:42
No Sir, didn't take it that way at all, in fact I should not have suggested that non-woven are not biodegradable...as they may very well be. Water sure is the great equalizer and given enough time will dissolve just about anything.
perhaps dissolve is not the right word...maybe disintegrate.
The Cleaner
03-02-2014, 08:51
Don't flush them, leave them in a firepit or privy......
Leave a ... used ... wipe in a firepit? You have _got_ to be kidding.
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The Cleaner
03-02-2014, 09:41
Leave a ... used ... wipe in a firepit? You have _got_ to be kidding.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk You wouldn't believe what I find in firepits. On my last trip to clean-up Jerry's Cabin shelter. A few thru hikers signed the trail register. One female left a used feminine napkin ( and wrapper for new one) about 3 feet behind the shelter....
double d
03-02-2014, 09:52
just use good ol' fashion TP and make the world a better place on the AT please!
Oh I believe alright.
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bamboo bob
03-02-2014, 18:58
just use good ol' fashion TP and make the world a better place on the AT please!
Actually, packing wipes out is the LNT idea. But wipes that were degradable in privies would be a good idea and the Coleman ones seem to do the job and degrade quickly if true. So they would be no different in fact then TP. I've used tp and I've used nothing. Wet wipes do the job best but also useful for washing up as well.
cheetahgeek
05-17-2014, 22:08
I carried wet wipes the whole trail to clean up with each night. I had two per day - one for my body cavities, and one for my feet. Carried what I needed in a ziplock and put the rest in my bounce box. I packed them out and put them in the garbage in town. The only time they were put in a fire pit was when I was sure they would be completely burned. NEVER leave garbage in a fire pit. Pack out your own garbage, don't expect someone else to do it for you. Toilet paper in the privies, no wet wipes. If you need something damp after a bowel movement then wet the TP.
rusty bumper
05-18-2014, 08:11
I used a wipe every night while on my thru hike. I dried them out beforehand and then "reconstituted " them with water before use. The used wipes went in a sandwich size zip-loc bag that I carried out and disposed of in town.
Northern Lights
05-18-2014, 15:23
No matter what your choice of butt wipe, PLEASE bury that ****! My entire section hike was littered with camp and shelter sites dotted with white 'blossoms'
How hard is it to dig a hole?