to think plastic applicators for Tampax are disgraceful and unjustifiable?

[appropriatelytrained]

I sent DH to buy me a pack of tampons recently from the local shop. He came back with Tampax Compak (the only choice).

I'm no green activist, but I was shocked to see non-biodegradable, non-recyclable plastic applicators used for this product.

It seems to me that applicators are generally pretty unnecessary but to make them out of plastic just for convenience and comfort (Tampax's response to my query) makes them an unjustifiable vanity product.

Churning out plastic applicators for no genuine purpose when the company know (despite what they may say) that these products will end up flushed down the toilet, is disgraceful.

Right, I'll get off my soap box. I don't post here usually but I just felt really angered by this when so many companies are trying very hard to change the necessary packaging of their products, this company is producing unnecessary packaging without thought of consequence.

Well seeing as the water you are drinking is recycled wee, it's not really that bad......

I am only this charming on special occasions.

Such as when some fuckwit tries to inconvenience me in the privacy of my own bathroom at a particularly inconvenient and uncomfortable time of the month.

Get your priorities straight OP! This has got to be the smallest consumer use of plastic. GRRR! and FUCK OFF!

I've recently switched to a mooncup but before that never successfully managed to insert a non-applicator tampon. I think I have a long fanjo (it would figure, I have a very long abdomen-hipster jeans are a nightmare). I just cant get them in the right place. I occasionally used the plastic ones when that was all they had in Boots but was equally happy with the cardboard. I never flushed either kind.

yabu - dont flush them! if u dont like them...dont buy them. happy days

Wouldn't they be classed as a biohazard/medical waste and therefore unrecyclable?

Good point, but then again, we recycle clothes that have possibly had blood spilt on them. We buy second hand clothes with the same risks. I would imagine any melting down would remove the risk of contamination.

I am 44

I didnt know you were not supposed to flush tampons

I wont now.

YANBU plastic such a waste! I had same discovery when DH bought me a pack (he also bought yellow instead of orange saying it was very similar). Awful plastic wrapper that wont open then statics to your fingers and thin applicator thats so slippery to hold. Will never buy again. Agree they are more comfortable but honestly after childbirth who cares

I always thought applicator tampons were for young girls. Well, I've learnt something tonight!
But seriously, people prefer cold hard plastic to soft warm fingers?

Its not the fingers that are the problem with me Hello , its the wad of compressed cotton wool that hurts!

YANBU. It's needlessly wasteful. I wouldn't use the plastic ones either but I do like an applicator; cardboard is fine.

I don't know anyone under 40 who uses applicators - I genuinely thought they were something that would dissappear once the 40 somethings hit menopause - sounds like they're still popular in the UK though.

Can't belive people are flushing tampons though - you lot must LOVE your local plumber!

Can't do the plastic things at all. The tampon won't come out, the top of the applicator won't open.
Expand only lengthways cardboard applicator TA pax were great ore DDs.
Now applicator less expand widthways are necessary.
If DD could manage these at 12 I'm sure you ladies can.

I could manage anything at 12 (or more accurately, 10 when I started my periods)
It is since childbirth that I have had problems

OP you wanna be thankfull your other half got the thing you asked for, several times i have asked mine to go to the shop for towels for me and have ended up on a couple of occasions with tena ladies. some peopleare so bloomin ungratfull.

I stopped flushing tampons after our drain blocked and the plumber asked me if I wanted to see the giant ball of tampons he'd fished out of our drain (er....no thanks!).

I am astonished at the number of you using applicators; I also thought it was something from my mother's generation. I used non-applicator from day one, as did all my peers, and I've never had a problem. Just shove 'em up. Or a Mooncup. Whatever.

I can't bear Tampax, whenever I use them the tampon folds itself in half inside me, then leaks within minutes. Not rigid enough.

But hey, horses for courses.

There still seems to be confusion from alot of people over what you can flush. Some people think you can flush the cardboard applicators and not the plastic ones.

See here

You do not flush anything other than human waster and toilet paper. Not tampons, applicators, wet wipes.... NOTHING! Even if products are labelled as flushable, it still doesn't mean you should flush them.

Thank you a1980

No, why not start with plastic tampon applicators that didn't even exist 5 yrs ago

They are older than that! I haven't been able to use a tampon for 8yrs (since birth of dd1) and obv during her pregnancy I didn't use them, but I used them before that. So, at least 9yrs since I used a plastic applicator, so yeah, pretty sure they aren't just 5yrs old.

quicklookbusy to back schroeder up...she is quite right in that washable sanpro is better than disposable on many counts.

I would never have entertained the idea of washing sanitary protection a few years ago, until I read on here that non reusables contain a chemical that draws the blood to it, causing 1] more bleeding & 2] more cramping.

I now use (home-made) reusable towels & I can honestly say that NOTHING compares to it comfort wise. Each change is like putting on a clean pair of knickers & I never feel sweaty even on the hottest days (and it gets HOT here in Australia). And in all my 25yrs of having periods, they are the lightest & least painful they have ever been.

Used ones go in a cold soak bucket, that lives in the laundry sink & then they all get thrown in the wash, in a laundry bag. They are no worse to wash than shitty nappies & they are economical, saving me over $15 a month!

I once took some non reusables on holiday, as I wouldn't have had anywhere to soak/wash them, and that period was the most painful I have had since using my own sanpro & I know that it was because of the blood drawing chemicals in them!

I'm sorry, really I am, but blood drawing chemicals? There is a chemical that will suck the blood out of my womb and induce cramps? Is that a true fact?

until I read on here that non reusables contain a chemical that draws the blood to it, causing 1] more bleeding & 2] more cramping

Is there anything at all, any study, anything that isn't opinion/anacdote/useful propaganda for when the woman shaming doesn't quite cut it, to support the above in any shape or form?

YANBU I have always wondered how they can get away with selling them when the applicators are plastic. I can't believe that people actually flush them away though! If you must use them, put them in the bin!!

The reason I don't like non-applicator tampons is not because you have to stick your finger up your lady garden per se, but because if you work in a very large, busy building with communal toilets where you have to come out of the cubicle to wash your hands and bump into colleagues who stop you for a chat, it can be rather awkward!

I never flush tampons, at work or home.

YANBU. It's up there with the VAT we pay on them because they're a "luxury" item....

How many of the plastic haters on here buy milk.... In giant plastic containers and faithfully recycle them
Not all councils yet recycle plastic bottles surely this would be a better thing to get your knickers in a twist about OP
Btw we're in the minority here and not only support our local milkman but get our milk in glass bottles
Plenty of other products contain even more useless plastic waste that can't be recycled i'm not sure about picking on this particular one
Do agree that tampons, towels, applicators etc should always be binned not flushed tho.