Chichester pilot cuts sewer blockages by 62 per cent
by Samantha Gladkauskaite10 March 20262 min read
A pilot project has led to a sharp drop in sewer blockages.
Chichester has seen a 62 per cent reduction in pipe blockages since the start of a scheme targeting "unflushable" waste, such as sanitary products, that often ends up in the sewage system.
The programme is a collaboration between Southern Water, the University of Chichester and TheFabBagCo.
It promotes the use of sustainable disposal bags to encourage people to bin, rather than flush, period products.
Matt Collins, who leads Southern Water’s ‘Unflushables’ team, said: "A reduction of more than 60 per cent in blockages in just four months is a great result.
"Every year my team deals with tens of thousands of incidents across our region caused by the wrong things being flushed down the loo, including sanitary products.
"We know people often flush these products because they don’t know how to dispose of them properly – campaigns like this show what a difference education can make."
From September to December, blockages caused by unflushables fell from 29 to just 11, compared to the same period in 2024.
Data from the scheme highlights a widespread issue: an estimated 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million pads enter the UK’s sewers each day, with period products and wet wipes accounting for 66 per cent of all blockages.
The two-year pilot project aims to educate students about the impact of flushing sanitary products and offer the bags as an easy, hygienic and discreet way to bin them instead.
Southern Water has supplied more than 300,000 of the sustainably-sourced, plant-based bags to the university’s communal loos.
Lucy Ferre, Environment & Sustainable Development Officer at the University of Chichester, said: "The bags have been a big hit with the university community, and both staff and students have appreciated this more discreet and hygienic method of period product disposal."
The FabBagCo inventor and CEO Martha Silcott, said: "The headline of a 62 per cent reduction in blockages is not the only thing I feel proud about from this game-changing pilot.
"It is also the opening-up on conversations around period disposal that Lucy mentions – the normalisation of periods."
The programme is a collaboration between Southern Water, the University of Chichester and TheFabBagCo.
It promotes the use of sustainable disposal bags to encourage people to bin, rather than flush, period products.
Matt Collins, who leads Southern Water’s ‘Unflushables’ team, said: "A reduction of more than 60 per cent in blockages in just four months is a great result.
"Every year my team deals with tens of thousands of incidents across our region caused by the wrong things being flushed down the loo, including sanitary products.
"We know people often flush these products because they don’t know how to dispose of them properly – campaigns like this show what a difference education can make."
From September to December, blockages caused by unflushables fell from 29 to just 11, compared to the same period in 2024.
Data from the scheme highlights a widespread issue: an estimated 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million pads enter the UK’s sewers each day, with period products and wet wipes accounting for 66 per cent of all blockages.
The two-year pilot project aims to educate students about the impact of flushing sanitary products and offer the bags as an easy, hygienic and discreet way to bin them instead.
Southern Water has supplied more than 300,000 of the sustainably-sourced, plant-based bags to the university’s communal loos.
Lucy Ferre, Environment & Sustainable Development Officer at the University of Chichester, said: "The bags have been a big hit with the university community, and both staff and students have appreciated this more discreet and hygienic method of period product disposal."
The FabBagCo inventor and CEO Martha Silcott, said: "The headline of a 62 per cent reduction in blockages is not the only thing I feel proud about from this game-changing pilot.
"It is also the opening-up on conversations around period disposal that Lucy mentions – the normalisation of periods."
