The bane of every maintenance provider’s existence is back in the news. From Windsor, Ontario to Metro Vancouver, BC, regional districts and municipalities are urging residents to stop throwing so-called “flushable” wipes in the toilet.

“Wipes don’t break down like toilet paper — they cause clogs that jam pipes, pumps and other infrastructure. Yet, many are falsely labelled ‘flushable,’” said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, who also chairs the liquid waste committee for Metro. Last year, Metro proposed a motion adopted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities asking the federal government to regulate what products can be called “flushable.”

Many people have turned to products labelled as “biodegradable,” but studies have found most flushed biodegradable wet wipes do not really degrade.

“They may be biodegradable at some given time in a compost pile, but in the time they’re in the sewer system, that’s really not going to break down and that’s what really causes us the biggest headache out of anything,” says Howard Carter, president of the board of trustees at the Water Environment Federation (WEF), a nonprofit established in 1928 that works to protect public health and the environment.