Watermelon-sized wads of wet wipes clogging sewer systems have been dubbed "sewage sheep" by workers wanting to find humour in their increasingly dirty job.
Fishing the giant balls of inorganic matter from filters used to be a fortnightly task.
Now it is required twice a week at the sewage treatment plant at Warrnambool in Victoria.
Operations team leader Ben Marsden said even products labelled "flushable" are most likely not.
"Every job has its ups and downs and this is definitely a down," he said.
"All around the world, authorities like ours are seeing giant balls of these wet wipes come down the septic system and block up equipment.
"It's costing millions of dollars a year to clean it out [and] we're trying to stop it at the source."
Golf balls, false teeth found in wads
Screening plant operators suit up in chemical coveralls and face shields to, as Mr Marsden explained, "protect their eyes and mouths from splashes of sewage".
Workers use hooks and chains to pull out the tangled wads of wipes and sanitary items.
Sometimes false teeth, money, golf balls, or mobile phones are among the mophead-looking mess extracted.
Mr Marsden's crew have dubbed these blockages "sheep".
"It's a colloquial name because when they're all dried up they look like a woolly sheep," he said.
"It's just a funny name to put a spin on something that is otherwise not a very nice task."
The problem is so bad that south-west Victorian authority Wannon Water has developed a campaign called Be Clever, Never Ever to discourage residents to think twice before they flush.
Their message? "Only the three Ps — pee, poo and [toilet] paper — should be disposed of via the toilet."
"Just think about what you're putting down your toilet and kitchen and bathroom sinks," Mr Marsden said.
"We have to deal with it later."
The old bunker at Thunder Point in Warrnambool, which houses the 1980s screening equipment, is set for a $40 million upgrade at the next of next year.
Mr Marsden hopes people might have changed their habits by then.
