biodegradable

Are gWipes flushable? The answer is no. Well why the heck not? (you may be wondering…)

photo by Krista Shuler

Well. Before we dive in to what they are NOT, let’s tell you a little bit about what they ARE, and why they stand apart from the zillions of other baby wipes on the market. First and foremost, they are 100% biodegradable. We’ve heard from some people that 100% biodegradable doesn’t sound like a big deal, after all, aren’t all baby wipes made of paper? They sure feel that way. Truth is, most baby wipes are actually polypropylene, which is a type of plastic and doesn’t biodegrade. gWipes are all cellulose, natural fibers that will break down. gWipes are super soft and free of alcohol, perfumes, dyes, etc. And even though gWipes are biodegradable, they’re still sturdy enough to get the job done. In fact, here’s what one mama had to say about them on our Facebook page:

“I looooove the gWipes! They are gentle on my TWO gBabies AND I use less wipes. I swear, I can do with one gWipe what it takes me 2 or 3 in other wipes! NO JOKE! (How do y’all work THAT gMagic????)” – Amy

For those of us at gHQ that no longer have babies in diapers, we all still keep a stash of gWipes. Because, well, some of us eat donuts while we drive. Others are just perpetually sticky. And, almost all of us have children, and even children that don’t wear diapers still need cleaning up from time to time. And let’s face it, messes often happen when you least expect it. So gWipes are great for all those little messes! For fingers, faces, noses, car seats, shirt fronts…

But, why aren’t they flushable, too? Here’s the answer, straight from the fingertips of our product development team:

“The only truly flushable wipes are hydro–dispersible and essentially dissolve in liquid.  Our first round of wipes were made out of such a material and the feedback we got was that the wipes were disintegrating and were not strong enough to work well during diaper changes.  All other brands that we have researched have some form of ‘binder’ that hold the cellulose together.  If they claim they are flushable it is usually due to the size of the cloth, not the towel itself.
When we were developing our updated wipe, strength, both in use and removal from the pouch were deemed very important from our consumer feedback.  Also important was that the product was interfolded, so when you pulled out one wipe, the next one pokes out for the next use.  Most importantly, however,  we needed to find a towel that was biodegradable.  We did a trial run with our original towel and it was deemed not strong enough to support interfolding.
We worked with our towel supplier and came up with a great biodegradable towel that is textured.  The overall feedback we got from our testers was that the towel not only performs better during diaper changes, but it can be interfolded and therefore was much more user friendly.

It is definitely a difficult task to weed through products and claims.  We researched all the wipes we could find in our space.  Their claims mentioned nothing about biodegradability or flushability.  Which to us said they are neither. We hope that you trust our research and decision making to be the best for baby and the planet.  We will continue to strive to earn your trust.”

We’ve had requests as well for reusable wipes. We may get there one day. In the meantime, baby washcloths (you probably got a lot of them at your shower) work awesome. Run them under some warm water, clean up baby, then wash them. And when you need something for out and about messes, you can always keep gWipes on hand.