To not understand common attitudes to disposable personal hygiene products?

[hooochycoo]

I'm confronted by this again and again on MN, and I confess I don't understand why it's OK to justify using disposable nappies, wet wipes, sanitary protection etc? Why is it OK to add so much rubbish to the world on the justification of convenience when there are alternatives that are still easy but generate less or no waste? Use a flannel, use a moon up, put/hold your baby regularly over a toilet/ potty, use modern easy quick drying cloth nappies. Why's it OK to recoil in horror at the hippyness of such things? But it's ok to continue buying disposable rubbish from huge corporations and throw them into landfill? Apart from an argument of "each to their own", aibu to not get it?

And by the time you add all the extras to the mix, re-useables are not cheaper.
You use a substantial amount of water to wash them, a substantial amount of laundry detergent (man-made might i add), then the disposable liners that go inside them that end up in the bin and of course you need to purchase different sizes aswell. You actually end up spending more.

Mooncup i agree, very good if you find it comfortable- saves you money, cheap to use, easy to clean but some women including me do not find them comfortable.

YABU to not understand why people don't use those products OP. I disagree with many things. That doesn't mean I don't understand - agreement is not the same as understanding.

Incidentally, when I (FINALLY) move out of home, and indeed when I was a student, I had one room in a shared house, we had a washing machine, no tumble dryer, and all washing was dried by hanging it on a cloths horse in my room. There is no way I could afford to have a tumble dryer, or indeed heating on enough to be able to dry reusable everything. Also, these things require energy - drying your nappies on a radiator or in the dryer uses energy, as does the water you use to wash them. It would add ANOTHER load of stuff to be washed and dried - often my washing would only be dry after a few days, and no real space for big loads due to space constraints. I also don't have the time to handwash everything - I work, am writing a PhD proposal, do not have a car so rely on public transport which takes ages. My time is important to me - how else do I do things like cook, or do my washing, or indeed have any leisure, or see my friends? I need these things for my own mental health. The environment is one consideration among many. One of my priorities is not living in a cold, damp room, and not spending all my time washing.

To suggest I am lazy and ill educated is inaccurate. I am glad you have found a solution that works for you, but to say that you cannot understand the reasoning behind other people's solutions simply because you disagree is quite bizarre. I think also most posters on this thread are more than happy for to do as you wish - no one is saying that you shouldn't use reusable things if you want to.

Most disposable products you mention ARE much easier and convenient. That is my reason. And I don't feel guilty.

The holding a baby over a potty idea is a bit odd. DD never went while changing her so I can't see any reason for this.

Are they Xmas?
If I used tampons instead of a Mooncup .
I would have to buy them every month
I would have to remember to take enough with me every day
I wouldn't flush them so have to dispose of them
If I was away from home -staying with a friend I would have to put used tampons in their bin.
Baffled as to how disposables are more convenient .
As for the Eco Nazi comment

I don't have children but I do use tampons. Your children make more environment mess than my tampons. So, I win.

I think it's pretty obvious that a disposable sanitary towel is more convenient than one which needs laundering.
Same for nappies.
Mooncups appear to have advantages over and above the environmental issues, but clearly aren't good for some women.

I'm a bit confused by the idea that having to put used sanitary products in a friend's bin is even an issue - but then that's just me.

Can't afford reusable nappies and don't have time/money for all the washing etc. Prefer using disposable sanitary stuff.

They would need to have a bin in the first place Boy
My DP don't have a bathroom bin - so what would you do? - flush it out to sea ?

woo hoo, now i'm a tiresome jobby.

do i still win the rude competition?

You're also being a bit passive aggressive, if that helps.

I considered reusables until I found out I was having twins. I really didn't want to have washing nappies on top of looking after twins.

I would love to try a mooncup, but I have a Mirena coil and it's not recommended. Pads give me thrush so I don't really want to spend out on something I will probably never use. So I use tampons.

YANBU to wonder why people don't make the choices you do, but I really take offense at being branded uneducated and lazy (and whatever other rude things you said) because my choices are different!

Gluezilla, your parents have no bin anywhere at all? I don't have a bin in my bathroom. I used disposable pads which come with little envelopes which I put them in and then into the main refuse bin . For tampons wrapped them in loo paper and into the bin . What's the big deal?

I think I'm going to hide this thread now as it's making me sad and that's a bit ridiculous.

It's made me realise that the majority of people see their own convenience as paramount in any choice they make.

Thanks everybody for your responses, hope everyone has a nice Christmas and a happy new year.

Pumpkin- "And by the time you add all the extras to the mix, re-useables are not cheaper.
You use a substantial amount of water to wash them, a substantial amount of laundry detergent (man-made might i add), then the disposable liners that go inside them that end up in the bin and of course you need to purchase different sizes aswell. You actually end up spending more."

You aren't suppose to add much detergent as it ruins them. Most Nowdays don't need liners as they are sewn in and the ones I used were one size fits all ie adjustable. £5 per nappy to last 0- potty trained

There are many reasons why people do or do not use disposable products, like others say, but bullying people into being 'green' at home is not only smug and irritating, but also potentially harmful to the cause. Make terrific, well priced products that are reusable, on the other hand, and you will have addressed the problem properly. That is where your attention should be. Stop faffing about rinsing jam jars and get jobs developing more appropriate products and marketing them at more than the suburban middle classes.

'I think I'm going to hide this thread now as it's making me sad and that's a bit ridiculous.'

Yeah cos it doesn't matter if you make other people feel shit by calling them lazy and uneducated, as long as their replies don't make you sad, eh?

It's made me realise that the majority of people see their own convenience as paramount in any choice they make

Disagree. What many people have said is that they consider their own convenience within making a choice about sanitary products. not that it's paramount, or that it's a large factor in any decision they make.

And I'm genuinely surprised that was news to you or makes you feel so sad as to need to hide the thread.

As I said though, I have some regret about not using usable nappies.
Making that choice would have reduced my contribution to landfill and they look lovely on a baby's bottom IMO.
It all looked a bit complicated though. And if I had bought them I would have under used them because we spent so much time in my DS's infancy without our usual laundry facilities.
I would also consider a moon up/ reusable pads but those "in between" days would still be an issue.

The bigger issue on this thread for me is that some people on each side of the debate have made harsh and unneccessary comments. But that's always my problem on aibu

Gluezilla, that genuinely surprises me. No, I wouldn't flush it to sea, I'd throw it in bin somewhere and tell DP if he wants a relationship with an adult woman, or ever wants any women in his home ever, that a bin in a bathroom is fairly standard.

How common are bathroom bins, then? My mother never had one; I had to wrap up pads and take them downstairs to the kitchen bin.

We only have a bathroom bin in our house these days because my husband informed me we should have one, and that until I got one, he would flush his cotton buds and facial wipes down the toilet. I shouted at him about turtle welfare and moved a bin in there!

It is actually very convenient to have a bathroom, but I won't admit that to him.

I don't believe I personally know anyone without a bathroom bin.
Cotton buds, floss, (dental, not candy) empty toothpaste tubes. That's before the disposable pads/ cotton wool etc.

Obviously not as common as I'd thought...

Apart from hotels I don't think I've seen anyone with a bathroom bin. I don't flush things one should not flush. San pro no longer needed but wrapped it and binned it. Cotton wool pads I just carry through to kitchen bin.

To be honest having bloody san pro ,even wrapped up in a bathroom bin is a bit yucky rather than adding it to the general yuck of the kitchen bin.

Surely it's more hygienic to wrap and bin a sanitary towel in the bathroom, then wash one's hands(as most ppl do after using the loo) rather than traipse through the house to the kitchen (involving at least 2 door handles) and bin it there.