Federal Trade Commission Approves Flushables Consent Order

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a final consent order with Nice-Pak Products Inc. that requires the company to stop advertising moist toilet tissue and cloth as flushable or safe for sewer or septic systems unless it can substantiate those claims. In May 2015, FTC filed a complaint that Nice-Pak violated the FTC Act by misrepresenting that a certain formulation of its wipes

• are safe for sewer systems,
• are safe for septic systems,
• break apart shortly after being flushed, and
• are safe to flush.

The final order settling the complaint prohibits Nice-Pak from misrepresenting that any wipe is safe to flush unless it can substantiate that the wipe will disperse in a sufficiently short amount of time after flushing to prevent clogging or damage to household plumbing and wastewater treatment systems.

The Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) and 36 other organizations submitted comments addressing the issues such as technical standards for dispersion of wipes and consumer public labeling and public messaging.