Grinding Wipes To A Halt

Ken Biele, CEO of JWC Environmental, discusses solutions to the growing problem of equipment-clogging disposable wipes.

At a high level, JWC Environmental is “focused on solids reduction and screening equipment … grinding stuff up, making sure it keeps flowing through the pipes,” Biele explains to Water Online Radio.

That includes an array of solids, but the main target of late has been disposable wipes. Whether marked “flushable” or not, the wipes are clogging sewage-handling pumps nationwide as they become more popular with consumers.

“It’s endemic across our industry right now,” says Biele, who notes that JWC has a number of new products devoted to solving the issue.

Will wipes (and the issue) go away anytime soon?

“I think we’re certainly making progress, while at the same time, there’s still a lot to do,” Biele notes. “A lot of it comes down to educating the end users, the people who are unfortunately putting those items into the waste stream.”

Another major issue facing Biele’s customers is the drought – a surprising revelation, perhaps, from a wastewater equipment manufacturer.

“Many people think about the drought from the drinking water standpoint, but it’s also affecting what’s happening downstream because the water flows are actually decreasing as people are conserving water, and that is then changing the makeup of the sewage that’s coming into the wastewater treatment plants.”

Learn more about solutions for combating increasingly difficult waste streams by tuning in to the full interview.