Customers substituting analogous products during the coronavirus outbreak could have disastrous consequences on infrastructure and supply chains.

The UK has seen panic-buying of products such as toilet paper set in as the scale of the coronavirus pandemic has grown. As a result, many consumers have also been stocking up on similar products like kitchen towels, assuming the two could be interchangeable in times of crisis. But the public is now being warned of some of the problems associated with swapping out products that appear on the surface to be analogous. The behaviour could have major impacts not just on supply chains, but also on sewage and plumbing systems.
Covid-19 presents global supply chain emergency
“We are seeing shortages of toilet paper but worryingly also shortages of paper kitchen towels and industrial paper towel used for example, in garages and workshops and other wipe products,” said Richard Wilding, Professor of Supply Chain Strategy at Cranfield School of Management.
“If kitchen towels, baby wipes or industrial papers are used as a replacement for toilet paper, our sewage systems could readily become blocked with the resulting chaos and increased health risks associated with this. Ultimately, water companies may not have the infrastructure and equipment to unblock the sewer system.”
Thames Water has already warned customers not to use kitchen roll in place of toilet paper, claiming it could cause significant damage to the wastewater infrastructure. Another item where customer substitution is occurring is with facemasks. As pharmacies have run out of stock, consumers have turned to hardware stores to panic buy dust masks and protective clothing designed for the building industry.
“This means builders, tilers and plasterers or other workers who regularly use masks for protection against airborne particulate matter, for instance, are struggling to get hold of this equipment from certain suppliers,” Professor Wilding continued.
“Yet the construction industry relies on this protective equipment for people to carry out their work – as employers, companies can’t expect their staff to continue without it and regulations place a duty of care on every employer to provide the appropriate safety equipment. Without such equipment employees are unable to work and companies are subsequently unable to undertake work. UK companies who supply these sectors are starting to feel the strain on certain protective equipment items and this needs to be monitored very carefully.”
According to Professor Wilding, these situations are known as ‘supply chain parallel interactions’, where ordinarily unrelated supply channels are disrupted by extraordinary circumstances.
“In this case, the consumer supply of medical face masks is drying up, so customers turn to industry sources,” he said. “Similarly, the substitution of kitchen towels for toilet paper will have a knock-on effect of disrupting the sewage treatment supply chain – causing shortages in their supply chain as a knock-on effect and a disrupting a seemingly unrelated industry.”
I’m starting to think these “panic buyers” who stockpile these items are just reading/hearing about it in the media & then decide they’ll go buy up heaps of items. I suggest the media start saying the shelves aren’t emptying, this might reduce the numbers of “panic buyers” & give others a chance to get to the shops & buy their normal groceries etc.
I also ride a motorcycle,this provides me with a “mask” against the virus & I don’t encounter others who might be infected.
There is zero need for people to become isolated as most have access to the web & can contact friends/family via the internet,further reducing the risk of infecting others.
A cheap and effective face mask can be made by folding a j-cloth lengthways, folding over each end over a rubber band (for the ears or to go behind the head) and stapling the folds to suit anybody’s head. The pocket formed by the j-cloth lengthwise fold can be lined with kitchen paper, tissue etc, which can be discarded. The j-cloth can be soaked in boiling water to sterilise it and re-used. Simples. Many experts consider face masks ineffective unless they are high spec, but they are looking at preventing virus transmission, rather than slowing its spread via liquid particles. Renewing/sterilising your face mask daily would be important though.