From false teeth to Ken dolls, a water company has shared details of some of the strangest things to make their way into the area’s sewers.
Severn Trent, the water utility firm in charge of the Newark area, has released details of some of the items it has discovered.
In the past year, waste crews at the water company have tackled 28,782 blockages.
Severn Trent’s top ten list includes:
• Toys, including a Dora the Explorer action figure and a Ken doll
• Pieces of garden shed
• False teeth
• Underwear
• A chopped-up bed frame
• Glasses
• Wallets
• Keys
• Cutlery
• Car tyres
Grant Mitchell, sewer blockages lead for Severn Trent, said: “Over the years we have seen so many things making their way through the sewers, all you have to do is sift through the skips of unflushable items that are filtered out of the treatment process at our Sewage Treatment Works and you will be able to find all sorts.
“How some of this stuff has got in there is anyone’s guess, but it makes the job pretty entertaining for everyone. But it does come with a very important message for everyone to be careful what you are putting in the sewers as it can cause messy and costly problems for all our customers.
“Although we see items like this at times, the thing we see the most that cause blockages are wet wipes and other ‘unflushable’ items such as nappies and sanitary products.
“We would urge everyone to keep in mind that only the three Ps should be put down the toilet — pee, poo and paper and bin everything else.”
One of the biggest offenders of blockages is wet wipes — even some that say flushable or biodegradable on the packaging.
Other blockage offenders include kitchen rolls, cotton buds, nappies and sanitary products.
Recent data showed that the number of sewage spills into Severn Trent’s waterways is on the rise.
The Government recently announced it will introduce new legislation to ban wet wipes containing plastic.
The new law will make it illegal to sell wet wipes containing plastic in England, which was backed by Severn Trent.
