����ý

The shape of the River Thames is changing, and campaigners say wet wipes are to blame.

Wet wipes flushed down the loo are building up in huge numbers, which is transforming the capital city's river.

To tackle this, charity Thames21 is calling for it to be illegal to label wet wipes as 'flushable'.

Why is this happening?

London's sewers are really old - they were built in the Victorian times. When it rains and they overflow, wet wipes flushed down the toilet make their way onto the river bank.

They then mix with mud and form slimy layers, getting bigger and bigger until they become huge mounds.

Wet wipes that contain plastic can't break down when they're flushed, and so stay in the environment for a very long time.

And there are lots of them - AJ McConville works for Thames21, and told the ����ý that he and a group of volunteers picked up 27,000 wet wipes mixed into the mud between Battersea Bridge and Albert Bridge.

To stop this happening, the charity wants the government to tell wet wipe manufacturers that they have to say on the packaging that they're not safe to put down the toilet.

There is currently a test manufacturers can get which, if their products are proven to break down, can award them the label 'Fine to Flush'.

However, it costs money to get done, and companies don't have to do it in order to say their product is flushable.

What does the government say?

A Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said the government had a 25-year plan to "eliminate all avoidable plastic waste".

She said: "We are working with manufacturers and water companies to ensure labelling is clear on wet wipes and also raising awareness about how to dispose of them properly."

What can be done about it?

AJ said there's one thing we can all do right now: "Don't put wet wipes down the toilet... tell your parents and tell your friends. That message is really important."