A public awareness campaign sponsored by INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, and the Maine Wastewater Control Association (MWWCA) to educate consumers to not flush baby wipes down the toilet has been nominated for a 2014 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Merit Award.

The EPA Environmental Merit Award honors those organizations that make outstanding contributions to improving a region’s environment. The criteria include defining the environmental problem, addressing the problem, accomplishing the stated goals, measuring the benefits to the environment or public health and collaborating with other organizations. Maine Commissioner Patricia W. Aho nominated the “Save Your Pipes: Don’t Flush Baby Wipes” campaign for the New England regional award.

“This nomination for the 2014 EPA Environmental Merit Award is an honor and great recognition of a collaborative effort between the wipes industry members of INDA and the Maine Wastewater Control Association,” says Dave Rousse, INDA president. “Many products are flushed down the toilet that shouldn’t be including feminine hygiene products, paper towels and non-flushable wipes like surface cleaning wipes. Concern by wastewater entities about the inappropriate disposal of these items has engulfed those nonwoven wipe products that are designed to be flushed and pass our Flushability Assessment Guidelines. Our stewardship role on this issue is focused on building awareness of these two separate categories and the different proper disposal paths for each.”

The campaign is called, “Save Your Pipes: Don’t Flush Baby Wipes,” and features various forms of media including television commercials, print ads in newspapers, social media pushes and direct mail pieces. The goal of the campaign is to reduce the costly burden that Maine wastewater treatment facilities are experiencing due to items being flushed down the toilet that were never designed to be flushed.

The recipients of the 2014 EPA Environmental Merit Award will be announced at a ceremony to be held in mid to late April in Boston, MA at the historic Faneuil Hall.

For more information regarding the Save Your Pipes campaign, visit http://saveyourpipes.org. For information on INDA’s Product Stewardship efforts for Flushability, visit www.inda.org/issues-advocacy/flushability.