To think how on earth that would fit there?

[Happydays12345]

Just had a letter from my water company saying there had been some serious blockages in the drains around here and reminding us what not to flush. One of the main culprits are nappies!!!!! How the frig do you flush a nappy down the toilet?

AIBU to think a nappy does not fit down a toilet?

[Rhubarbgarden]

Guilty of tampon flushing here too. That's what I was taught to do twenty five years ago and I've never heard anything different. I will refrain now.

I did, however, stay in a B&B last weekend that had no bathroom bin. Just a tiny wicker basket, unlined, in the bedroom. As we had a nappy-wearer with us I had to line the basket with plastic bags myself so we could use it. I thought that was really poor - and it wasn't a cheap place or someone's home; it was a proper Inn with lots of rooms and all the other usual facilities.

[TheBigJessie]

All the tampons I have ever bought said, "not flushable, please dispose in bin" or something similar.

[GoldiChops]

Oh but I have never flushed a tampon tube, the Tampax cardboard ones say they are flushable but they look so huge! I clean and wrap them once used. I bet they cause probs too. I use the plastic ones at work, as they are smaller packages so you can fit more in your bag, Id never flush them!

[GoldiChops]

IrisWildThyme thanks- I didn't know they did sanitary bags like nappy bags. I'm a nanny, in a family house, so it's not a ladies' loo it's just the family loo- neither the kitchen loo nor the kids one, the ones I can use, have bins. The only bin is the kitchen bin, no way I could pop a parcel of blood into someone's kitchen bin! The outside bin is a wheely bin so it's really obvious what you've put in there. I tend to wrap pads really well, plastic bag them, and keep them in a plastic lined makeup bag to dispose of at home. My boss, lovely lady but but she really doesn't get how heavy some people's periods can be. I have too change hourly for three days!

[wonkylegs]

this story was picked up by various national networks.
I just can imagine how, let alone why.
However I have worked on various specialised care developments where we have to design loos with special panels to allow unblocking when patients/residents have flushed bedsheets & towels down the loo. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it.

[SpiritOfTheBuskersCat]

I've got 2 boxes of tampons here, must checked them, one says flushable the others say don't.

[lottiegarbanzo]

I think there's a bit of a battle between manufacturers who describe things like baby wipes and tampons as flushable on the packaging and water companies who say 'not suitable for flushing, please don't.'

[lljkk]

I was taught to wrap & bin tampons 30+ yrs ago, I never heard of flushing for a long long time. Different country, though our sewers were much newer & presumably bigger.

[Silverlace]

I used to work in a shop that had baby change facilities. We paid a heck of a lot of money to hire proper nappy bins but still had to regularly pay a plumber even more to remove the nappy from the toilet that some idiot had flushed down.

[Sparrowlegs248]

Me too Gobby

I had no idea you couldn't flush tampons but haven't been able to use them for years. Did flush them as a teen though. Along with the old style pre Always sanitary towels which i was advised to tear in half lengthways and flush. Yuck. But they were just pretty much padding rather than plasticy like they are now.

I wouldn't want to wrap a tampon. Maybe thats why the sanitary bins at work are always smeared in blood?

[IrisWildthyme]

Goldi in the supermarket next to the tampons and towels you can usually buy a box of discrete little plastic bags like mini nappy sacks but the plastic is much more heavily coloured so that the contents can't be seen. Very useful if there's no bin readily to hand and you can easily keep a couple wherever you keep your spares. However I'm shocked at a workplace not providing a bin in the ladies at work - are all the bosses men who have never had to think about such things?

[GoldiChops]

Wow, I've never heard of not flushing tampons. there is no way I could wrap one and put it in the bin, dripping blood clots everywhere! Plus at work they don't have a bathroom bin, no way I could carry a dripping package through to the kitchen bin. Bad enough trying to sneak a pad through, at least they retain the blood better if you change every hour! I've never flushed a nappy though, nor a pad.

[ThePuffyShirt]

I once saw a CCTV of a local sewer (long story) & spotted a pair of jeans and a cabbage!


(Obv the cabbage had got in there via a manhole, but still, wtf?)

[LazyGaga]

We had problems with our shared drains and environmental health bloke found incontinence pads down there, not Tena lady size but the full on adult nappy size.

That still comes nowhere near jeans though!

[Rhubarbgarden]

Jeans? Jeans?!

[Norfolknway]

We used to flush tampons as students in shared accommodation.

Well, until the drains got all blocked up with 'something' and we ended up with poo in the yard

Poor landlord had to dig through the poo and tampons to clear it...we never did it again

[Happydays12345]

I'm wondering if the culprits are feeling guilty after receiving the letter.

I'd be mortified if I flooded people's houses.

[IrisWildthyme]

I think the reason we used to be able to flush tampons, towels and even nappies 30 years ago was because they were basically glorified loo paper - a thick wodge of cotton wool, which would disintegrate in the water.

These days, such articles are made of much more synthetic stuff, including those clear gel beads which swell up to many times their original size to absorb lots and lots of water. I'm sure you could easily fit a not-particularly-wee'd into modern nappy (probably only the size 0/1 tiny ones) down the loo quite easily, but they would swell to block the pipe not long after the U bend.

[quoteunquote]

at gobby

[gobbynorthernbird]

Anyone else expecting a totally different thread?

Oh. Just me then.

[NachoAddict]

Jeans?? Why would you do that.

Baby wipes are the devils work at blocking toilets and I cant understand the thought process behind flushing a nappy.

[Happydays12345]

That is truly perplexing, how on earth would
a pair of jeans fit?

[Theincidental]

Eater board had to come out to unblock the drains here. They found an adult pair of jeans in there that had somehow been flushed down a loo!

How? How?

The mind boggles as to what would cause someone to flush jeans down a loo...

[TheBreastmilksOnMe]

My loos are awful for blocking up I blame cheap, modern bogs with narrow u bends and eco flushes and ancient, broken pipes. Every time dp has a shit they block up for a few days. I don't know if it's the size of the shit or the amount of tissue he uses but it drives me bonkers.

[YoniBottsBumgina]

I think it still says on tampon packets that they are flushable. They're not really, though.

The problem isn't the size, it's the fact they don't break up easily. If there is a snag anywhere on the inside of the pipe (which can happen when there are old pipes anywhere in the system) and something gets caught on it, if it's soft like poo or wet toilet paper then it will just break off and not be a problem, but if it's stronger like cotton wool or even something like those "flushable" toilet wipes then it stays there and other stuff can get caught on it. Over time other stuff gets caught on this blockage and it builds up. If you're lucky then the original item will break down and the blockage will clear, but if not then it can block the whole pipe.