“The Scottish Wildlife Trust has long advocated for a healthy and productive marine environment, and to achieve this requires action in urban and rural areas, as well as along our coasts and out to sea. Scottish Water’s Nature Calls campaign highlights the important, yet largely unrecognised, challenge of managing household waste, in particular what we put down our drains. Drains provide a link between our homes and the sea, and it is vital we don’t put anything down them that could cause harm to marine life.

The marine life in Scotland’s seas is spectacular and it is our responsibility to protect it. Stopping the disposal of harmful waste and reducing our use of single-use plastics are small actions that everyone can take, which collectively can result in a big benefit for our marine life.”

Dr Sam Collin, Living Seas Manager - Scottish Wildlife Trust

“NatureScot supports Scottish Water’s Nature Calls campaign. Protecting and restoring nature and inspiring everyone to value our natural world is at the core of what we do, so asking people to adopt better habits in their homes every day is essential to benefit nature - now and in the future.”

Francesca Osowska, Chief Executive - NatureScot

“We fully support Scottish Water’s Nature Calls campaign to encourage people to place used wipes in the bin rather than flushing them or discarding them in nature, as a way to highlight the harm that wipes cause to our environment.

An ideal scenario would be for people to reduce the use of wipes as in most cases they contain plastics and are not biodegradable and thus can pollute our rivers and harm nature.”

Andy Ford, Director of Nature & Climate Change - Cairngorms National Park

“Our natural environment is one of Scotland’s biggest tourism assets. It is hugely important to communities and visitors alike and should be protected. To maintain the stunning landscapes and countryside that we all love to visit, we must all play our part to be responsible and respectful when visiting. As part of our #respectprotectenjoy campaign we ask everyone to help keep Scotland special by looking after our natural landscape and leaving no trace of their visit.”

Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive - VisitScotland

“Our lochs and rivers are a crucial part of what makes the National Park, and Scotland, such a special place. Not only beautiful to look at and enjoy, these water bodies are vital wildlife habitats and keeping them as healthy as possible helps us tackle both the climate and nature crises. Sadly wipes can get into these water bodies causing harm to water quality, wildlife and their beauty. We consider them a form of pollution and therefore we are supporting the call for wipes containing plastic to be banned and urge everyone to do their bit by never flushing wipes.”

Simon Jones, Director of Environment and Visitor Services - Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park

“Here on the Clyde estuary we see seals, harbour porpoise and in winter, basking sharks hunting for food in our tidal waters. We’re worried by rapidly increasing numbers of wet wipes washing up onshore - coming in from the very waters in which these animals are trying to feed. Please help us protect them and your beaches.”

Zoe Weir, Friends of Dumbarton Foreshore

“A staggering 30,000 wet wipes have been picked up by our volunteers on Cramond beach alone over the last five years. It’s not just a problem here though. At last year’s Great British Beach Clean we found an average of 25 wet wipes for every 100m of Scottish beach surveyed.

Our toilets can still sadly be gateways to the ocean which is why incorrectly flushed items like plastic wet wipes can be found on beaches across Scotland. We need to stop plastic items, like wet wipes, getting into the sewer system and out in the ocean. That’s why we’re supporting the Nature Calls campaign and to ban plastic wet wipes and help reduce the number of wipes mis flushed, show your support for wet wipe free beaches and seas by supporting the campaign too!”.

Catherine Gemmell, Scotland Conservation Officer - Marine Conservation Society

“I’m delighted to see Scottish Water highlighting this important issue, encouraging everyone to be more conscious of the environmental impact of plastic wipes. We want doing the right thing for our environment to be easy and possible for everyone - including manufacturers finding affordable alternatives to plastic free wipes. This will make sure that industry contributes to a future without wipes that clog up our waterways and oceans, harming wildlife and permanently changing our environment.

Scotland is facing a climate and litter emergency, so action to find affordable solutions to plastic free wipes is needed to protect the future of our country. This campaign will help industry and individuals to understand that their actions can and do make a difference.”

Barry Fisher, Chief Executive - Keep Scotland Beautiful

“At every step in its lifecycle, even long after it has been discarded, plastic causes harm to wildlife and contributes to the climate crisis we’re facing today. If we’re to stop climate change and eliminate plastic pollution from our oceans, we need to rapidly phase out unnecessary single-use plastics and that includes a ban on wipes made with plastic.”

Lang Banks, Director - WWF Scotland

“It is great to see campaigns like this become more prominent in tackling the urgent problem of single-use items. At Zero Waste Scotland, we understand just how important it is to ban single-use plastic - and single-use items in general. We champion more sustainable ways of operating, which is why we love to see efforts, like Nature Calls from Scottish Water, grabbing attention and encouraging us all to think about our throw-away culture. Each time we choose to reuse we are one step closer to a more circular economy that will help alleviate Scotland’s contribution to the climate crisis.”

Iain Gulland, Chief Executive - Zero Waste Scotland

“At Royal Zoological Society Scotland we’re inspiring and enabling our visitors and communities to do their bit to protect our planet and the wildlife we share it with. We want to make it as easy as possible to be a champion for nature.

We’re supporting the Nature Calls campaign because one of the most simple actions we can each take is to stop putting wet wipes and plastic products down our drains and we agree that wipes containing plastic should be banned. Not only does flushing these items cause flooding and pollution as they block and break pipes, but they end up littering our beaches and oceans and killing wildlife.”

David Field, Chief Executive - Royal Zoological Society Scotland