| Wipes Campaign Wins Award | Wipes Campaign Wins Award | <div class="ExternalClass3BDFE11E90C045E7BDB84850986F8F7F"><p>Metro Vancouver’s “Never Flush Wipes” campaign has won the Utility Excellence Award, under the “Community Outreach – Large Utility” category, from the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association. The award recognizes the wipes pilot project conducted with the City of Pitt Meadows, and was presented to Metro Vancouver in June at the Association’s annual conference in Ottawa. </p><p>The pilot project, conducted in the fall of 2015, took a humourous approach to wipes issues, using the “Adult Toilet Training” theme. It draws attention to the fact that, unlike toilet paper, wipes don’t easily break down when flushed, even the ones labelled “flushable.” As they travel through the sewer system, wipes can clog sewer lines, pumps and even your own pipes. This can cause backed-up pipes, flooded basements and sewage spills into our environment.</p><p>The campaign included a roaming pink port-a-potty with wipes messaging, social media, posters in women’s washrooms, videos and a series of funny bathroom tips. Metro Vancouver also measured the amount of wipes entering Metro Vancouver’s Baynes Road sewage pump station in Pitt Meadows before and after the pilot project to help assess if outreach efforts were working. Measurements showed a two-thirds reduction in the number of wipes entering the pump station after the project. </p><p>The pilot was expanded region-wide in 2016. Many local governments support the campaign by placing posters in women’s washrooms and municipal facilities, hosting the pink port-a-potty at events and through social media. The pink port-a-potty will continue to roam the region for the summer and a last round of outreach will start in mid-August. See the campaign at: <a href="http://neverflushwipes.ca/" target="_blank">neverflushwipes.ca</a></p></div> | http://www.metrovancouver.org/metroupdate/PublishingImages/issue22-neverflushwipes.jpg | 2016-07-28T07:00:00Z | GP0|#2d395db4-59c2-4bcd-8cf3-118afd214b4e;L0|#02d395db4-59c2-4bcd-8cf3-118afd214b4e|Issue 23;GTSet|#d14ffe11-45dc-48fb-8684-ff109cf15a74 | <div class="ExternalClassF05D218002BF4F32BE1B9CBA605F6542"><p>The Never Flush Wipes campaign came out on top, recently winning an award from the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association. The program was first piloted in Pitt Meadows before expanding across the region. Now others are looking to Metro Vancouver to see if they can use the campaign too. </p></div> | 0 | |
