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.

a few assumptions willow some posters have already said its a comfort issue not that the cardboard tube won't fit, and not everyone does 'get a penis up you'

its not that it doesnt fit its that it is uncomfortable and actually painful, not a problem i had before children, but it hurts to use them so i use the plastic ones which dont hurt.

and i am amazed that tampax etc is taxed yet razors arent!! that is NOT on.

YABU. I love them. The plastic applicator slips up the old fanjo much more smmothly and comfortably than a cardboard applicator.

Well after several huge babies I could probably fit a truck up mine

Does putting own brand tampons into the applicator work then, eccles ?

Ha at doesnt fit. Nearly every poster who said cardboard ones hurt say this is since having children [hhmm]
As for "getting a penis up me" thats not so easy since childbirth either.
Have a [hbiscuit]

Hmm! I have been having periods for 37 years and using tampons for 30 of those years but I have never used a non-applicator tampon and honestly I am not sure I would know how to do it!

However, could I say in my defence:
a) I have never used a plastic applicator - I just buy the same old brand every month
b) I don't flush them away I always put stuff like that in a nice, discreet little lavendar coloured bag and throw them in the bin
c) At 49 I don't suppose it will be an issue much longer. Things are getting more infrequent and irregular (Currently 33 days and counting since my last one)

Yes we are all selfish because we use plastic applicators.

Because that small bit of information about our lives utterly defines us.

Get over yer ownself.

MrsDeVere I've love to know how these eco warriors are communicating online...

On a laptop made of hemp perhaps...?

USA is the opposite of Germany, I had to make special trips to the 'big city' to buy non-applicator tampons, was a real pain. Applicator tampons were useless for me as they don't absorb as much and the whole expansion lengthways rather than widthways is just weird.

"well here's a thought for some of you, I had the free pearl tampons with applicator, liked the applicator didn't like the plastic idea or the price so I saved one and washed the applicator after use and use it for my non applicator and cheap supermarket brand tampon. job done."

Clever girl step . I could not use non-applicator tampons, but I will never use plastic ones!

Oh, and I only really think the bit unjustifiable about plastic applicators is flushing them.

When I was using tampons I would have hated to be forced to use applicators, so can see why others who get on with certain types of applicator tampons wouldn't like being forced to use something else.

I hope all those women who say they shouldn't be used for green reasons are never giving out party bags full of plastic crap or buying any plastic toys or garden slides for their kids....just saying!

Oh and before you say about flushing all types of plastics end up in the sea breaking down into tiny particles but never breaking down completely. These tiny particles are causing dramatic hormonal changes in marine life which makes them infertile and in turn will wipe out many species.
It's not just tampon applicators it's all the plastic tat we fill our homes with especially kids toys.

Who are the morons who flush sanitary products down the loo??

Some of the morons work at my office malinois, I often go to the toilet to find somebody's unsuccessfully flushed applicator bobbing about in the bowl. I'm betting if the applicator's gone in the loo then the tampon has too.

YABU OP.
If you want to be sanctimonious about sanpro - get a mooncup!

@tyler: don't they have sanitary bins in your office loos? I thought it was a requirement under workplace legislation.

and plastic bags microfight
Im not an ecowarrior just an ordinary mum who would prefer it if the gorgeous beaches in the UK didnt have earbuds,condoms,tampons and plastic applicators littering them.

Indeed Sarah, but plastic bags are well documented. We are all buying our kids plastic toy crap but hey it's ok because we carried it home in a reusable hemp bag !!!

Anyone ever been to Hawaii? the beaches are not called the rubbish bin of the world for nothing and it's not just sanitary products, all sorts of plastics end up there from the ocean currents.

But dont you understand!!!!! Its the responsiblity of WOMEN to stop the end of the world. One fanjo at a time.

Do I get let off cos I use re-usable baby wipes?

Trade yah - a few tampon applicators put in the bin once a month with a few hundred non biodagradable bum wipes.

My kids are 14 plus so no I dont buy them any plastic toys .
Im not really sure why you are having a go at me - surely every small thing counts - I dont use disposable products that end up in the sea .

What never? Your children have never had any plastic toys?

Well the one and only time I used the plastic ones, I got a bit of skin trapped between the 2 bits of plastic and screamed the house down.

Cardboard or fingers for me thank you.

I live out in the sticks - nobody has even heard of mooncups round here. Are they seriously worth using? (apart from the environmentally friendly side of it)

YA totally NBU. Applicators are completely unnecessary whether cardboard or plastic. If you are too squeamish to put your fingers near or "up your fanjo", as someone said, then use sanitary towels. The amount of plastic in our seas is horrifying. It's not just unsightly - it's harmful and polluting, and will ultimately poison creatures in the sea and eventually us. That's about the sum of it, and this has been proven. NO tampons should be put in the toilet - they should be wrapped and put in the rubbish. Putting them in the toilet is disgusting and ignorant.

And don't get me started on those morons who bury disposable nappies in the sand