Children’s videos plug away at sink blockages

The kids proved that keeping toilets and sinks flowing is child’s play as they hit the ideal standard with three videos – showing how to keep the facilities free of blockages.

Unblocking toilets and sinks costs Together Housing Group over £300,000 a year – money that could be better spent on improving services for tenants and building new homes.

Items such as wet wipes and nappies don’t just disappear down the U-bend and dissolve – they clump together and cause havoc in the sewers

Not only can blocked pipes result in misery for tenants by flooding homes and gardens with sewage but many of these items end up in our rivers and on our beaches.

When Together Housing’s communications intern Poppy Beharall was tasked with getting this message out to residents, she turned to the children of some of its residents for help.

Armed with toilet humour and six volunteers aged 4-12, Poppy created three videos: one to discourage residents from flushing wet wipes down the toilet; one to deter flushing nappies; and one to prevent residents from pouring oil and grease down the sink.

Poppy said: “Single use plastics such as those found in wet wipes and nappies is a very real threat to our environment and it is future generations that will suffer as a result. I felt like if the next generation are the ones putting that message out, parents and grandparents are more likely to sit up and take notice.

“The children were brilliant, real professionals even when we asked them to repeat a sentence for the 100th time. They didn’t stop smiling all day.

“They all told me how much they loved doing the scene where they were getting out the van and how exciting it was to actually be in a real van.”