To be surprised that people flush tampons and towels still?

[Pipbin]

So many people seem to fail to see that it's a problem.

This program: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0419n5m/watermen-a-dirty-business-episode-1 showed why it's a problem.

no, they really really don't stain, they come out brilliant white! I must admit I was dubious at first, having used some of the first "modern" all in one washable nappies and found those did sometimes stain. The pads are a lovely soft fleecy material and it is amazing how much they absorb and wick the blood away from the surface, the first month I soaked them all in cold water in a bucket before washing but now we just keep them dry in a bin and even having been left with dried blood on for 48 hours, they wash brilliantly. we also have hard water and I was worried about them going stiff like the nappies did, but they don't.

I ended up being the one to clean that flat. (I was offered a large sum of money.)

The blockage was firm enough that when the backwash broke through the airlock at the U-bend it spattered poo on the ceiling.

The ceiling, no less.

It was a poo-cano. A poo-nami. Pooroclastic flow. A poosplosion.

I hope it was a LOT of money!

phantomnamechanger

I've got Charlie Banana pads in my stash, would second your recommendation as they are really comfortable and very pretty too (I've got the pink, black and butterflies ones) as well as doing an excellent job!

And all because some people flush tampons out of sheer stubbornness.

I used cloth nappies, recognise some of the brand names on the website from those days. Sunshine used to be brilliant for getting the poo stains out of them, but I did wonder about blood, thinking how many pairs of knickers I've had to throw away over the years. Coloured fabrics is a good idea. I'll definitely get DD to try these when the time comes. I almost want my periods back now!

CharlotteCollins, it was enough to cover a double layer of tyvek suit, gloves that got thrown away and dustmasks with DP's perfume squirted in.

With washable towels, what do you wash them with? I wouldn't want to run the washing machine just for them.

I didn't know tampons couldn't be flushed until reading it on MN. I don't use them anymore (TSS and period free for 7yrs of depo jab!) but was toldwhen i first started, to flush them.

I'm not sure i'd fancy binning tampons if i did use them.

Old style pads were torn in half, lengthways, and flushed. Stopped flushing pads when Always revolutionised sanitary towels!

I have washable pads that I use sometimes.
I just rinse them through when I take them off, then they go in the washing machine with everything else.

Would I be right in thinking that the flushable wet wipes for toilet training etc are also not sewer-friendly?

They've been so useful with DS. Not sure I fancy putting used ones in the bin - poo a bit worse than blood. [boak]

Why do the tampons end up on beaches though? Surely there are purification stations between the end of the drains/sewers and the sea?

And no, of course I do not flush them.

Pipbin

I rinse my pads if they are heavily stained but otherwise I don't bother and I just put them in with my general washing that is waiting to be done. I think some of them are not meant to be washed with softeners if they are made of certain materials because it affects the absorbency like with towels but I try to use minimal amounts of washing fluids anyway as I don't think modern washing machines need a lot and I have some of those balls that you throw in with the washing to help with the cleaning.

If you use them in addition to a menstrual cup you are unlikely to get heavy staining, I have very heavy periods because I have several large fibroids but the cup I use is adequate even for those because I deliberately chose a large capacity one.

It's hard to explain but until you have used them you really don't realise how little they smell either while in use or while waiting to be washed and I think a lot of this has been caused by the disposable sanpro industry who have told women for years that they smell bad when they have their period and want women to use fake perfumes to cover the smells when a heavy odour is usually only because there is something wrong like an infection that needs to be investigated and treated or (especially with disposable sanpro) if the woman is not changing often enough.

CharlotteCollins

I think they have been found to be responsible for blockages as really our sewers are not meant to cope with things like that and they don't break down like human waste or toilet paper.

I haven't had a child so I don't know about that side but I do have pets and it doesn't bother me putting their (bagged) waste in the bin for disposal. I put it in the wheely bin though I don't think it should sit in inside bins! (I know not everyone has wheely bins though).

I used to shudder at the mooncup mentions on the former Bad mothers club. Yet once I started using cloth on my kids and discovered making my own Nappies making my own sanpro was a natural progression. cannot begin to guess how much I have saved In nearly 3 years not to mention shorter Lighter periods.

Solids in the sewage end up on beaches because a lot of the more Victorian bits of the sewage systems of coastal towns - which still work just fine - were built for much smaller towns than they're currently under, with a lot less asphalt and concrete.

So, said sewers are generally a lot fuller, and when it rains, less of the rain soaks away and more goes down the drains.

Sewers are designed to handle this, though. There are overflow sections to handle storm surges, and it's ony when those get overwhelmed that the sea outflows get used to deal with the excess. Alas, what goes out the sea outflow tends to be the stuff that floats to the top...

Things used to be a LOT worse when the only overflow sections were the late victorian ones. In recent years a lot of coastal towns have added deep interceptor sewers. I got a look inside Brighton's just after it was built. 6 metres around and a few kilometres long. It'll be a good rainstorm that overwhelms that bastard, I reckon.

Anyway, tampons, towels and wetwipes are still a pain in the toches even if they make it all the way to the treatment plant without causing a Faecal Volcano in someone's garden/bathroom/favourite seafishing spot. All got to be screened out.

as with the poster below, I just thrown the washable pads in with the normal light coloured washing - I wash either lights or darks every day, so they are never sat around waiting for longer than 48 hours and the other poster is also right - it is the chemicals in disposable pads that cause the smells and we have been conned into thinking it's us and periods are stinky, they aren't - the washable pads do not smell at all either when being worn or waiting to be washed. we just put the dirties in a small bin in the bathroom, no soaking required. Its dead easy. I guess if you are on your own and not washing more than a couple of loads a week it might be trickier to manage .

I flushed tampons for nearly 40 years. They said they were flushable, and tbh, wrapping a dripping tampon in acres of loo paper is disgusting and unhygienic. Fancy coming out of a public loo looking as if you'd committed a murder?

I don't see why materials scientists can't come up with a bio-degradable tampon.

And it's well overdue for water companies to stop releasing unfiltered (and presumably unprocessed) sewage onto beaches. Why should we jump through hoops to cover up for them putting profit ahead of their responsibilities?

You don't have to touch the tampon, pull the string with one hand catch it with a little wad of loo roll in the other hand, wrap and bin, neither disgusting or unhygienic. Public loos invariably have a bin so you don't have to leave the cubicle with it.

OneHandFlapping

I don't see why materials scientists can't come up with a bio-degradable tampon.

I think that other posters have said upthread why this really can't work.

And it's well overdue for water companies to stop releasing unfiltered (and presumably unprocessed) sewage onto beaches. Why should we jump through hoops to cover up for them putting profit ahead of their responsibilities?

While it is true that responsibilities should come before profit and a lot of people believe it was criminal to sell off public utilities, I think it is up to us to be responsible too and make it easier for the systems to work as they should not more difficult.

I don't see why materials scientists can't come up with a bio-degradable tampon.

I love comments like this. It means 'I have no idea about the science behind this but I think it should happen anyway.'
It's like saying 'why can't you bake a cake out of chicken and beef, it's all food.'
I remember hearing an MP saying 'why can't someone in California invent a way of stopping peadophiles using the internet?' It's the same thing. You, scientist, invent perpetual motion, looks easy enough.

Yeah, yeah Pibkin. I know you're on a crusade here.

But I think you need to work on your actual arguments here, instead of resorting to patronising twaddle.

Oh and you managed to bring paedophiles into a discussion about sanpro. Really, you are wasted on Mumsnet. You should stand for parliament.

Well, patronising twaddle is the correct response to ignorant twaddle. Deploying actual arguments would be like trying to play chess with a pigeon.

Well tell me why 'I don't see why materials scientists can't come up with a bio-degradable tampon' isn't twaddle?
My comment about peados is to illustrate why it's just not as easy as all that. Just because someone thinks something should be possible it doesn't mean it is.

And I'm not on a crusade here. Flush what you want down your loo, it's you who will be knee deep in your own shit not me.

Well, they have and haven't, onehandflapping. But people prefer to buy Tampax for some reason. If it was possible to invent tampons that degraded in water, the investment into research and development would look like a dead loss, financially!

If your local supermarket stocks Natracare, buy those, and get a compost bin.