PEOPLE should bag and bin rubbish rather than flushing it away.

That is the message from Severn Trent Water, whose latest campaign is asking people to dispose of items such as cotton buds, sanitary products and condoms in a bin and not down the toilet.

The water company has to deal with more than 20,000 blockages a year in its sewerage system.

In Worcestershire alone last year there were 106 sewer floodings caused by blocks.

When sanitary waste eventually gets to the sewage treatment plant it can block the plants' filter screens. If there is heavy rainfall, this waste may escape from overflow pipes directly into rivers and the sea, where it is a risk to both people and marine life.

It has been estimated that local councils spend up to £14 billion cleaning up beach rubbish every year.

Lisa Lawton, who manages one of Severn Trent's largest sewage works at Wanlip, Leicester, said: "People seem to see their toilet as a dustbin. But sewers aren't designed to take things such as condoms, sanitary products, nappies or cotton buds.

"Oils and fats are particularly troublesome because they solidify in the cold, larger sewer pipes and over time the fat builds up to block sewers and cause huge problems."

Severn Trent is spending £1m annually to modernise its sewer pipes and water treatment works, but it says that even the most modern of systems are not designed to deal with refuse waste.