Around 800 tonnes of wipes, tampons and other sanitary items are removed from sewers every week in the Eastern region, according to new figures from Anglian Water.

Ely Standard: Some of the waste wrongly flushed down toiletsSome of the waste wrongly flushed down toilets (Image: Archant)

For major cities and towns including Peterborough and Cambridge it equates to as much as 36 tonnes of bathroom waste being wrongly flushed per week – roughly the same weight as eight adult elephants.

To combat the problem, Anglian Water has paired up with a female entrepreneur and her new invention to tell women the truths about tampons in a bid to cut sewer blockages, flooding and pollution.

Entrepreneur Martha Silcott said: “Some people have great ideas in the bath or in the shower, but I had mine sitting on the toilet.

“I believe women deserve a hygienic, easy and discreet way to deal with disposal and I created Fab Little Bag to achieve this - and to help prevent environmental pollution from sewer flooding at the same time.

“I hate the cheap, transparent nappy sacks which add to the landfill problems, and I was adamant there must be a better way.”

It comes after a survey of women in the UK found nearly half (41 per cent) said they flushed sanitary items down the loo and didn’t know they shouldn’t. The same number of women said they didn’t know this was damaging the environment.

More than 340 Mumsnetters were surveyed and given the chance to trial FabLittleBag, a hygienic, easy-to-use disposal bag that biodegrades.

The test results showed nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of women said that the trial had made them realise flushing tampons and other sanitary items leads to sewer blockages and pollution, and 77 per cent said they would bin tampons rather than flush in future.