Am I the only one who thought tampons were flushable?!

[sunseaandme]

I'm 32, and only recently have I discovered tampons aren't flushable. I always thought they were, I can't remember where this thought came from, I assume my mum told me they were when I started my period, but that pads were obviously not flushable. I feel so guilty for flushing them all this time (obviously I won't do it anymore!). Am I the only one?? I realise I probably sound like an idiot as it probably says on the packet not to flush them but I never thought to check 🙈

I’m 56 and would never have dreamed of flushing a tampon down the loo. The signs saying not too are everywhere and have been around for my entire adult life

I'm in my 40s and have always known they aren't flushable

I stopped years ago but I was an adult in my 20s. I think because they are advised as flushable it's massively confusing.

Then I take it you are not one of us oldies and didn't grow up in the seventies and eighties.

I started mine in 2002 and we were always told to flush them. Either they changed this a year or so later or my school were behind with the times. I don't think I've ever read the leaflet in a tampon box and like a lot of posters I only found out recently on MN.

I remember being told that tampons were flushable. Also pads, as long as you ripped them in half - I never flushed pads because I couldn’t stand the thought of ripping them up, but I’m afraid to say like many posters I was a tampon flusher until very recently - in fact I occasionally still forget and drop a used tampon down the loo before I’ve fully remembered I’m not meant to….

i can’t get on with mooncups (so uncomfortable!!) but do now use reusable pads….

I always flushed mine but I’m 74 so we weren’t aware of the problem back then.

I'm 33 and I thought this until recently too!

When I started my periods in 1989 my mum also told me same. It was at least 10 - 15 years later before I stopped !

@BakedTattie it might depend how old you are, I suppose. 40 years ago (dear god, 40 years!!) when I started my period, I wasn't allowed to use tampons, (I'm still not sure from which angle my mum was coming from on that one) but when I did (only about a year later as not using them was impacting on my swimming) I flushed. I've NO idea if I was told to by my Mum or the packaging, and it was what everyone did. No different to toilet paper it seemed.

I guess at some point the water works it environmentalists started saying how bad it was, but it was a long time until that message reached most women using them.

I never really used the ones with applicators, but whenever I did try them I'd put the cardboard & wrapping in the bin, never flushed it.

I think saying it's 'common sense' is pretty rude. There are lots of things that have changed over time. I expect youngsters will say it's 'common sense not to' to things you think are pretty ordinary now.

I thought this too. I even showed my mum the label saying not to flush them and she told me it was wrong and they were fine to flush 😫

Definitely taught they were flushable back in Days of Yore. Towels too. There was huge shame around periods back then. Flushing was more discreet than the sound of a sanitary bag being opened, filled and stashed.

I didn't flush them over 20 years ago.
I agree we need a campaign about this. Although my teen DD went straight to binning them. But a girl with a mum who flushes would probably flush too.

I’m 40 and it was definitely drummed into us during school lessons that you don’t flush any sanitary products. Only the 3 ps go down the loo.

I think in the 70s / 80s people were advised to flush, even sanitary towels were torn in half and flushed. But That was a long time ago.

Me too I flushed them for years. I remember flushable applicators too.

Yes! Wasn’t it called a bunny? I also remember being shown how to attach pads onto your knicker waist band with a metal hook. Luckily, I never had to use those.

As for flushing tampons - I always did it (because they used to be flushable and I didn’t know it had changed) until my sister complained we had no bathroom bin to dispose of stuff. Looked on here and found a similar thread, I was v surprised. Bought a bin the next day.

Yes I flushed them for decades too. I used to flush pads from when I was a child too, ripping them up, although in those days there was no actual plastic in them as such.

OMG me too!!!

'Mens trial cycle'. It must be crowded in your bathroom.😁

I always flushed them, can't imagine putting them in the bin 😬

I did not know this. I haven't used any in about 20 years, but still, if anybody had asked me, I would have advised to flush. Good to know!
Obviously I thought sanitary bins were for sanitary towels.

This

That packaging is a blast from the past! Remember the little plastic holders you could get that held two tampons?!

I’m just about to have ‘the talk’ with DD and have bought her the usborne ‘what’s happening to me?’ Book from Amazon - it’s just arrived today. There’s a bit in it discussing periods and it says ‘although you can flush tampons it’s better for the environment not to’…. So the advice is still not clear cut even today! (Although I will be instructing DD not to flush when her turn comes…)

Well in the 70s we were most certainly told tampons and pads (ripped in 2) were flushable.

Although I didn't as our plumbing was rather old lol