Call for wet wipe makers to fund waterway clean-up

Wet wipe producers should be charged to remove their pollution from England's waterways, the author of a government review into reforming the sector has said.

- Helena Horton

While sewage has been a critical factor in the devastating pollution of waterways, other sources include microplastics, consumer products and byproducts of modern manufacturing - such as PFAS, or "forever chemicals" - as well as fertiliser and pesticides from agriculture.

Many of these have been linked to harmful effects on human health and the environment.

Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former Bank of England deputy governor, said the fairest solution could be for polluters to help pay for the environmental damage they cause.

He said: "The alternative is for everyone to pay through their bills. And the question is, should we spread that among everybody, or should we go through a polluter pays route? So I think we should look at those routes."

It has been a landmark week for the water sector after Cunliffe published a review setting out recommendations on how to clean up England's polluted rivers and seas. The government pledged to abolish the water regulator, Ofwat, and establish a more powerful body to hold water companies to account.