Wet wipes are the scourge of the sewer system. Is the solution clearer messaging deterring shoppers from flushing them, or a ban on wipes containing plastic?

Wet Wipe Island in the River Thames no longer has its own Google Maps entry. Three weeks of painstaking work was required to remove the five million wet wipes that had formed into a 250-metre-long island near Hammersmith Bridge. But now, thanks to the Port of London Authority, in collaboration with Thames Water and environmental charity Thames21, both the island and its Maps entry are no more.