Can someone tell me WHY they are so grossed out by sanitary products in a BIN?

[KateTush]

I know this thread may invite the haves and the have nots of bathroom bins to argue endlessly about it, but what I really want to know is…

…(to the people who DON’T think it’s acceptable to put a tampon/sanitary towel into a bathroom bin): WHY ON EARTH NOT?!?

It’s a bloody bin (pun not intended). In a bathroom. For bathroom rubbish. Which for many women is primarily used sanitary products. I’ve often seen threads where people say it’s disgusting to have to “handle” or “root around for” a friend’s tampon…er…you don’t do either?! You tie a knot in the bin bag, without looking at the contents cos you’re not deeply weird, and chuck it in the outside bin.

Using kitchen bin is one thing, but expecting a guest to put bathroom waste in their handbag next to their phone/snacks/pen/chewing gum/whatever is just so unreasonable it boggles my mind. Even more so if you have a bathroom bin but think that this particular use of it is unreasonable.

I’m wondering who I’ve offended in my life by using their bathroom bin in this way - it would never occur to me that there was an unsaid rule about sanitary products not going in there when it seems to be the main purpose of the bin being there in the first place.

I’m sorry, but I’ve also got to ask all the handbag smugglers/hosts who expect guests to handbag smuggle - are you generally a bit uptight about hygiene and bodily functions or perhaps periods in general? And again, how is it more gross to BIN something that PUT IT IN YOUR HANDBAG.

A bin is a bin. It’s for rubbish. That includes used sanitary products (obviously unless a recycling bin). A handbag is for putting everyday and useful items of an inoffensive nature in.

At someone's house ? You'd carry it outside? And put it in the bin unwrapped ?

They last all day, that's why they are so good, but if you wanted to change them obviously you could. They usually sell them with a little bag. Your daughter could ask her friends - most girls use them where we are, so it's quite normal.

Our bathroom bin is for any sort of waste generated in the bathroom. I use a menstrual cup so the only thing I put in ours is floss and the hair cleaned out of my hairbrush, but I'd be horrified if one of my female visitors felt the need to take her tampon home instead of putting it in the perfectly functioning bin (if it were for my benefit - I'd have no issue if she felt more comfortable doing that).

or buy one of these

Yes. You are the odd one here. Wouldn't even think not to if there was a bin in a bathroom. How strange to carry it round with you!

No they’re fine until you get home. Or if out on a long day or very heavy and worried put a pad on top and then take it off part way through the day.

ive got no problems with well wrapped waste in the bin

because all the arguments about not wanting bodily fluids in a bin / it smells / it's embarrassing are surely made worse if you walk through the house with it and deposit in an area near food??

This is a really strange thread. I can't imagine a bathroom bin that you weren't allowed to put sanitary products in !
My bathroom bin has the occasional wrapped sanitary products (very irregular /infrequent periods), wax strips, toothpaste tubes and all the hair that gets stuck in the plug when I wash my hair ! The bin has a lid and I don't ever notice a smell. I would feel awful if a female friend felt embarrassed to use the bin.
We have been to places on holiday when you even had to put used toilet roll in the bin due to the plumbing. Much warmer places than UK and I didn't notice it smelling bad if the bin had a lid and was emptied regularly .

Even for those who have argued that menstrual fluid is a bodily fluid akin to others that we wouldn’t put in the bin, surely you understand that the issue is this: the product it is collected by (tampon/pad) can’t be flushed like urine/faeces/snot. Therefore it is good common sense to have a receptacle for them that can be easily lined, easily emptied, easily cleaned, and in doing so promote the comfort, privacy, dignity and actually the hygiene of the woman without forcing her to put it in her handbag/carry it around.

Can’t understand why you are so hot about this op

and no I won’t be putting a bin in my downstairs toilet

they can get changed elsewhere orput in outside bin or like you say their handbag!! I doubt they really care tbh

Op

it is not my job to promote comfort, hygiene etc

🤣🤣🤣 why are you so concerned about this non issue

Just wrapped/bagged and in bathroom bin here! Our bathroom bin is definitely not for insides of toilet rolls or shampoo bottles because they should be recycled!

I can only assume that those being po-faced about sanpro in bins were traumatised by being savaged by escaped tampons when they were children.

Get changed elsewhere, where? So if someone’s at your house they have to pop out to the nearest pub loos or hide behind the shrubbery to change a tampon?

I do care if I’m at someone’s house and I have to put a loo-paper-wrapped tampon in my handbag – ?! – because there’s no bin. I want to put waste in a bin, a receptacle designed for that purpose, not a handbag, which isn’t.

Honestly, check your privilege only kidding

seriously though, I'm in a flat and we don't actually have any communal bins to store rubbish between weekly refuse collections. We're supposed to keep bin bags in our flat for a week until collection day, although whenever I go out I take one with me and smuggle it into a public bin as I go past.

I'm just glad I'm on the depo and don't get periods, like hell would I be wandering the streets at midnight looking for a bin for my sanitary towel!

@Quitelikeit Have had years of problems with fibroids that caused constant heavy bleeding, as in, 4 months at a time. Finally sorted but took literally years despite promptly seeking medical attention when the problem started.

So, although I realise most women don’t have as much of a problem as I have had (in that mine was constant as opposed to intermittent) it’s still potentially an issue amongst women who menstruate. My way above average encounters with this issue means it’s something I have an opinion on.

And of course not everyone uses or can use cups/pants/recyclables but that’s another thread.

I wouldn’t say I’m hot on it, I’m chatting on a chat forum and putting my points across. Not getting a petition started! Of course, you’ll do what you want in your own home and judge me for what I do in mine and vice versa.

@SafferUpNorth you can wear them for 10-12 hours :)

It is an issue because when bins aren't available people who don't want to carry used tampons round in their handbag flush them down toilets and then they cause blockages.

Sorry, what?

Where do you expect your guests to put their stuff?

And what's with the shampoo bottle thing? You recycle shampoo bottles with non recyclable used sanitary products in??

Period pants are wonderful. I have an average flow and can wear them for a day out of the house. If you do need to change, then you can take a wet bag to put the used ones in. Or you can go out using them with a pad and then take the pad off through the day, if you don't want to change them and you have a heavier flow/are out for a long day. And overnight they are just fantastic.

We have a little clippy box with a mesh lining in bathroom that used ones go in and then bag just gets chucked in the wash.

@Quitelikeit put it this way, if someone always jumps in the shower every morning to wash their bum after a 💩 because they’re regular as clockwork, I would still think it odd not to have loo roll in the house.

It seems like that to me, at least that’s the best example I can think of right now.

Of course it’s not your job, I’m just saying that having a bathroom bin is such a small thing one can do for guests. Especially if guests are “allowed” to actually use it! With all the benefits listed above 😁

OP, not goady but genuinely curious - I take your point not everyone can use cups, but pants?

Even expensive ones are probably the same cost as 5 boxes of tampons and in theory last forever

Stuntbubbles

elsewhere as in your own home before you go to someone’s house?

i still won’t be getting a bin so if you are someone who visits my home and need to change I’m afraid you would either have to put it in the outside waste bin or preferably take it with you in your bag.

not ideal but you should really prepare for that by carrying the little nappy sacks to put your waste in!

I spent a lot at ModiBodi on period pants, thinking they would be the answer to my horrendously heavy periods.

They weren't. They leaked within an hour.

Do the anti bin brigade use the sanpro bins in public loos/work/venues I wonder?