Paid Promotion
I’m proud to be working as an ambassador for Pura Wipes – a brand new baby wipe that is 100% plastic-free, made from biodegradable plant fibres, compostable, alcohol-free, fragrance-free, and so much better for the environment than the baby wipes that I’ve been loyally buying for the past ten years.
90% of wet wipes sold in the UK contain polluting plastic. This means they take up to 100 years to biodegrade in landfill and cause sewer clogging fatbergs if flushed.
Over the past few months, I’ve been talking about Pura on social media, and I’ve had a lot of questions about them, so I wanted to put those questions to Pura and get you the answers.
It’s so important that any brand that makes claims, is able to back these up with information and facts, and I’m happy to be the messenger, bringing those facts to you…
Can you flush them?
Pura says: “Pura offers genuinely flushable wipes which have been certified as Fine to Flush – the UK’s newest flushable standard. This means they have passed Water UK’s rigorous scientific testing and are 100% safe to pass through the sewerage system.
“In 2017, the biggest ever in-depth investigation of sewer blockages in the UK proved that flushed plastic wipes had caused some serious problems…
“The project found that wipes could make up around 93% of the material causing fatbergs and other obstructions. These wipes – which included a high proportion of plastic baby wipes – weren’t designed to be flushed. But many were – and still are – labelled “flushable”. Thanks to an old industry standard, wipes are being labelled “flushable” – even if they don’t break down quickly when they enter our sewers.
“The fight against fatbergs received a major boost with the publication of Water UK’s official Fine to Flush standard.
“To achieve Fine to Flush status, we had to pass Water UK’s stringent tests, which include looking for plastics and residuals that could contaminate rivers, estuaries and the sea.”
How do the wipes biodegrade and what’s the time frame? Surely they’re still going to sit in landfill?
Pura says: “Well, in simple terms, if something is biodegradable it can be broken down into smaller pieces and will eventually return to nature.
“But there’s the catch. Most things can actually biodegrade over time – even plastic. It is how long items take to breakdown, and the process this follows, that you should be most interested in.
“Plastics can take hundreds of years to biodegrade. As they reduce, they can form smaller microplastics and release other toxic material. Baby wipes containing plastic can take decades to biodegrade and can harm wildlife, our oceans and waterways as they do so.
“Pura wipes biodegrade in months rather than decades and contain no harmful plastic or further toxic materials. Baby wipes containing plastic can take over 100 years to biodegrade.”
How do you dispose of them to ensure they biodegrade? This won’t happen in landfill.
“Just dispose of them in normal waste and Pura wipes will biodegrade in landfill.”
Is the packaging recyclable and is the sticky peel back of the packaging recyclable?
“The pack is recyclable and yes the sticky peel is also recyclable.”
When they say 100% compostable, is that at home or industrial composting, which isn’t available to people like us?
Pura says: “Pura wipes are TUV Austria certified home compostable. Exactly how long it takes our wipes to compost via your home composting system does depend on the specific conditions in your compost heap or bin.
“You’ll probably have heard of (or maybe even have created) a compost heap – a mound of kitchen and garden waste that can be used as nurturing compost for your plants.
“While biodegradable materials can decompose within landfills, compostable materials require special composting conditions.
“For a product to be labelled as compostable – like Pura’s wipes are – it must be officially certified as being capable of breaking down in a defined period of time, under “specified conditions of temperature and moisture”.
“Some eco alternatives to traditional plastics, such as the material used in compostable coffee cups need high levels of heat, water, oxygen and micro-organisms to fully degrade and they are therefore generally not home compostable and will only compost under industrial conditions.
“In independent scientific tests our wipes disintegrated within six weeks in a home composting environment.”
Are they more gentle than Water Wipes?
“Pura’s 100% plastic-free, biodegradable and compostable baby wipes contain 99% water and nourishing organic aloe vera, ensuring they are safe on newborns and eczema-prone skin.
“Water Wipes claim to be made with only two ingredients – 99.9% water and a drop of fruit extract, but they don’t list in those ingredients that Water Wipes are 80% plastic.”
Where can you buy them and what kind of price?
Pura says: “You can buy them from mypura.com in individual packs or you can subscribe and save 10% (cancel any time). You can also buy the wipes from Amazon.”
Can they please start selling them in supermarkets soon?
“Pura is built around convenience of next day delivery to your door and affordability (not having to pay to be listed in supermarkets). We currently don’t plan to be selling in supermarkets any time soon. You can make one off purchases as well as subscribe and save.”
If you have any other questions about Pura Wipes, leave a comment below and I’ll get the answers for you! In the meantime, you can find out more at mypura.com