Club recommends formaldehyde-free chemicals
I’m delighted that, after many years of raising this issue, the club has finally acknowledged that members should use formaldehyde-free chemicals in their toilet cassettes. See the latest copy of the magazine.
I first raised this at the AGM (held at the National Motorcycle Museum) in November 2017 with John Lefley, then the Sites Chairman. Since then I have continued to raise the topic in the CL Advisory Group Meetings.
It's good to see that the club now recognises how important it is not to pollute our environment with unnecessary chemicals, has published a Sustainability Statement and more recently started working with an organisation called Green Tourism. It has also created a category in the CL Awards for the most sustainable CL site.
I hope that all members, whether staying on CL sites like mine that rely on a septic tank, or elsewhere in the club network, use one of the wide range of formaldehyde-free toilet chemical that are available.
On our site, we recommend a totally chemical-free product called Solbio which many of our visitors now prefer.
Comments
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Some sites over here in France also recommend alternative toilet tank additives as they have a Fosse Septique(Septic tank) as we do at home.
A lot of sites are not connected to mains drainage hence alternative toilet additives are recommended.
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Every campsite in every other country I have visited has flushing WCs - and people use them. Carting cassettes filled with chemicals around is because some site owners don’t instal toilets.They would never get a licence to open a campsite without toilets in mainland Europe. Backward Britain again.
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Well I for one are not going to treck to a toilet block three times a night! Don’t have a problem with cassette toilets and if using sachet form of toilet chemical then not bottles of liquid either. I am also pretty sure that most Aires in Europe don’t have toilets.
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Didn’t you have an Eriba ET, or am I thinking of someone else🤔 If you did, did it have an onboard loo?
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Maybe it would be helpful if you highlighted the main issue(s) associated with the use of formaldehyde based chemicals, particularly its use on systems not connected to mains sewerage? Also, is it dependent on everyone following the guidance for such a step to be effective?
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Good point Freddy. For those sites (like ours) with Septic tanks or the newer version called Sewage Treatment Plants, a Toilet additive that doesn't kill the beneficial bacteria in the system means that the system should perform as designed.
Toilet chemicals that are free of significant dyes (which can dye the outfall) also help. This is why many sites now insist on Solbio.
You are correct, that to be 100% effective on such closed systems, everyone needs to use the environmentally friendly Toilet additive. Many CL's now insist on all visitors using such additives, and provide 'green' versions on arrival to visitors who do not have the correct chemicals.
For those visiting larger sites that may be on Mains Drainage, the issue may not be so severe, but surely it would be better for everyone - and our environment - to use a fluid that does not contain harmful chemicals, whichever systen it ends up in.
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“but surely it would be better for everyone - and our environment - to use a fluid that does not contain harmful chemicals, whichever systen it ends up in.”
I wouldn’t argue with that. I once visited a CL that provided a ‘Green’ fluid (I don’t know what it was) a few years ago. TBH, it didn’t smell great. Another problem is folks turning up with ‘blue’ already in their tank, ours always has it, even when not in use. Of course, these are relatively minor issues, but may put people off. That said, I’ll be making the switch. It’s probably time that ‘blue’ should no longer be available
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Backward Britain again.
Personally I find it more backward, that in France at least, caravans with the same facilities as Motorhomes are permitted on the Aires with facilities whilst those are open, but are forbidden once they are closed.
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It is the case that not all blue toilet chemicals have formaldehyde. Some are formaldyhyde free which confuses the issue even further.
we usually use aqua kem green sachets. I don’t like solbio because it is liquid which means finding somewhere secure for storage, which in turn means not inside the van. We can keep the toilet sachets in with cleaning materials.
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Well, we choose not to use site facilities - be it on a CL / CS or a Club campsite - so that statement isn't quite true.
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I can only speak for Italy (which is no more 'forward' than the UK) but that is certainly not the case there. There are sites where there are no flushing toilets and no toilets at all - just like here. In fact I can think of one recently opened without any facilities so they must have had a license.
I 'cart' my cassette around as I don't like going to the toilet in the middle of the night or at anytime when it's cold or raining, or actually when I just can't be bothered.
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I’ve been looking for it, LLM, and haven’t found it yet, not even where CDP is listed in the facilities. 🤷🏻♂️
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Even if they are mentioned in the T&Cs at the OP's campsite TW, or even 'recommended', it is impossible to enforce?
I wonder if they sell the 'recommended' chemicals in their shop? And at what price? That would be useful for people going there to know?
And of course to stock up before arrival if necessary?
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Yep, it’s a bit late once you’ve arrived without the named product to then find you need it, Corners.
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Thank you for this observation. Yes, we make it clear in our T's and C's and also in our booking and pre-arrival information. For those who may not be able to bring the correct fluid we have it available for sale.
To quote from our booking email to all guests:
Toilet waste - going green
We have a septic tank for you to empty your cassette. To ensure that the septic tank continues to function properly, and to respect our environment, we must ask you to only use Organic Toilet Fluid. Our tank costs £250 to pump out if 'blue' toilet chemicals are used. Organic toilet fluid is widely available and no more expensive, please use it on all CL sites. We recommend SOLBIO a 100% organic fluid which you can buy online here1 -
I generally use Elsan Blue or non bio washing tablets from Aldi or Lidl. The former is preferred but are the latter suitable for septic tanks? I have tried one of the organic ones and was not impressed. If I am on a site which requests the use of an organic fluid, I don't use anything but empty the loo every day instead of every 2/3 days.
Maybe I will try organic again to see if they have improved it.
peedee
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There seems to be an assumption made by a few that flushing WC in site facilities are all connected to the mains system. This is not true many sites have a system where our portable black waste is deposited into the same system as that from the non mains facilities.
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Ah, yes, apologies. I’ve spotted the request in the Terms now but I can see why I missed it before. Why ask people to use it on all CLs as that’s surely something for individual site owners to decide?🤔
We used Aldi’s green fluid when we visited the Outer Hebrides where the use of green is requested. It seemed good and was much cheaper than the one promoted here.
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But what does it cost if non blue is used? If there a huge difference?
Also while you can ask you surely have no way of enforcing such a T&C? And I am puzzled why in your T&Cs you are speaking for all CLs?
But why SOLBIO, a 1.6 litre 40 dose packet comes in at around £25 while 2 litres of even Elsan organic comes in about £10? I've noticed much cheaper dealer branded as well?
I have a good supply of dealer branded blue sachets and I must confess I have no idea if they are formaldehyde-free or not - I'll check when next away. I always buy when they are on offer like three for two hence the good supply.
I have tried the 'green' stuff but it wasn't very good and the smell was, while not horrible, certainly off putting and not what I want in my caravan.
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I thought formaldehyde was a banned substance but I have been corrected on this before. It still appears to be in blue toilet fluids. As far as I understand it, when discharged into septic tanks is kills the biological reaction but whether a tank needs emptying less frequently, I have no idea. Back in the late 70s I lived in a house which had a septic tank. In over two years we never had it emptied.
peedee
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Maybe the tank had a leak?! I’ve lived in houses with septic tanks, some needing frequent emptying. I remember Mum being told not to use biological washing powder, but times change. My parents lived in a house, in not a remote area of Gloucestershire, with “private drainage”. A euphemism for “who knows where the toilet waste drains”. There was a particularly verdant patch of nettles just over the fence next to where the old outside privy had once stood!
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Clearly you have not made it clear as at least two members were unable to find it.
I like blue with formaldehyde. To me it smells good and it works. I have tried "green" alternatives and found them expensive and lacking. I have also tried bio-pods; which seem to work for a while then fail.
Unfortunately for me the blue with up to 25% formaldehyde is no longer available. The best I can get is the Aldi version which has about 6% of the chemical. It does seem to do the job and I'm told that at such a low level and diluted many times in use, it will not harm a septic tank.
That said as a non member I won't be using your CL; nor will I use any site that insists on me using a chemical other than the one I want.
Incidentally, in addition to being made commercially formaldehyde occurs naturally in the environment. It's produced during the decay of plant material in the soil and during normal chemical processes in most living organisms, humans included. It is also a combustion product found in tobacco smoke.
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Having just looked up what is in different brands of toilet chemicals Thetford blue does not contain any formaldehyde but Elsan Blue and any other brands due contain formaldehyde as Peedee said I thought it had been banned.
We use Thetford green and have no problems with that and have used it for years, as said we have a septic tank here and had it emptied this year and the local man from SPANC water in ground authority came and inspected the tank to prove all in working order and which has to be done every 10 years we had it emptied before he came and he said it can be done every 6 years, also we do not put any bleach or harmful chemicals down it and we do treat it with appropriate additives every week or get 3 or 6 month additives.
We had just a cess pit when we lived in Somerset and that was emptied every 18 months and we lived there for 25 years but now the place is on the village mains.
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Maybe the tank had a leak?!
It probably had a drainfield.
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"Our tank costs £250 to pump out if 'blue' toilet chemicals are used."
I wonder if you meant to refer to the cost of pumping out or maybe something else, such as the cost of cleaning. My septic tank in France cost about 250 euros to empty; no one ever questioned what chemicals might lie within. A quick search online suggests a cost of anything between £175 and £400 to empty a septic tank in the UK depending on size. No where is there any comment about what chemicals may be present, but I accept that that is by no means conclusive.
I no longer have an LV, but I am with LLM above on this matter. I found the green options wholly inadequate for the job; I consistently used Thetford Blue liquid and capsules. They did the job for me. Moreover the idea promulgated by eurortraveller that the problem is sites without toilets might have been right in the 1980s, but is surely nonsense now when so many prefer to use their own facilities, especially at night. I did not use CLs, but any site that insisted on the green alternative would not get my custom until such time as they did the job as well.
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but any site that insisted on the green alternative would not get my custom until such time as they did the job as well.
I tried them many years ago and was not impressed. However, although generally using Lidl bio pods, recently I have tried both Dometic green pods and Aqua Kem green sachets and they have worked very well indeed. They are however at least 5 times the price of Lidl pods. Although I have no problems in using them if the site requests it.
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If Thetford blue does have any formaldehyde then I'll be using that in future, but I'm thinking that will be when my current supply runs out.
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