to think it would be common courtesy and common sense to that? possibly tmi.

[someonestolemynick]

To put a bin next to the toilet.

This makes me irrationally angry: My job involves going to people's houses. Normally I will be with them between a and 4 hours, so occasionally I will have to use their toilet.
Today I'm on my period and have quite heavy flow. I was on a longer job (3hrs) and bled through my tampon. I discovered that there was no von in the bathroom. Just to be clear. I try to avoid having to change my tampon in client's houses by changing in public loos, McDonald's or Starbucks and carry scented plastic bags with me tobwrap the offender in when I have to do it at someone's house.
So, anyway, i was in the very awkward position of having a soaked tampon and no way of getting rid of it. I was in charge of a very young child - so no way of nipping out to the bins or a pub (to use the loo) and ended up stemming the flow with toilet paper and going back to working with their dc for another hour.
I will not flush a tampon down the loo because I don't want to block the clients toilet.

So, aibu to ask you all to provide a bin for female visitors?

We don't have mains drains and it's a very old house. So in our case, one tampon can and has blocked our drains.

Most people don't have septic tanks though someonestolemynick.

Tbh the only blockages I've ever encountered have been from very large shits.

My dad's a plumber and never came home with stories of tampon blockages.

Lillets and Tampax both say they are ok to flush, not advised if you have a septic tank. I'll probably believe them.

Yes because lillets and tampax would have no reason to want to persuade you to buy their product

It's not an advertising point RudeElf just written on the leaflet inside.

You are very naive. Every word in that leaflet will have been carefully chosen to sell sell sell you that product. Please have no doubt about that.

Just like the leaflet that tells you the toxic shock is very rare yet I know a number of people, including myself, who have had it.

It's really tiny writing that you can't read until you've already bought them, and which most people only read once to figure out how to use a tampon.

It's still rare, pipbin.

Oh fgs.

Can you not see, ducky, why tampon manufacturers might say their product is flushable when it's technically true, i.e. they can be flushed away even if it causes blockages in the sewer? Just because you can't see a problem, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Fgs what?

The flushing issue aside (don't do it people!), bins are for rubbish. Tampons are rubbish. Therefore bin them.

Any shame/disgust in the simple act of putting some dried blood and tissue in a bin, will result in me shouting 'The patriarchy!' very loudly at you.

As far as I can see the main culprit in blocking drains is congealed fat, which other things then cling to.

In Bilbao they have communal oil bins. Very good idea if you ask me.

Anyway, thanks for a lovely aibu argument, I fancied one before bed. Still going to flush them

Some very odd attitudes on this thread. Disposing of used sanitary products correctly is not the same as shitting in a bin (the only thing I could think of that would elicit some of the disgust here). Who rakes through their bin to see what's inside it anyway?

Wow!!!

Are we in the 50s? What about people who take a shit in your bathroom lol

I can't believe some of the responses. It's a tampon not a nuclear bomb.

Yep, biggest culprit of blocked drains is fat. next time don't get all bent about using a bin, flush it!

I often wonder about the fat. Who pours fat down the drain/But isn't soap made of fat

Those bags are £2.99 for 20, so no, not £1.90 each. Still too much for me but then again I don't use tampons anyway.

Is it just menstrual blood people object to having in their bins or do plasters or tissues used to clean up a nose bleed share the same revulsion? What if you had a guest who got injured, would you shoo them out of your house while they were bleeding? Make them gather up any tissues/dressing etc used as first aid & take them with them?

We were invited round for tea with potential new neighbours when we were house hunting a few years ago & the lady interrogated me on my personal hygiene habits & made me swear not to flush anything other than toilet paper. Apparently they'd had a blocked pipe somewhere along the road after someone flushed some sort of sanitary product. This was in a fairly modern part of a large city. We didn't buy the house in the end, nothing to do with the neighbours though.

You really can't flush tampons. They snag on old tree roots that inveigle themselves into cracks in old pipes and at seams in pipes, and somewhere along the line there will be a blockage. You might as well flush fabric nappies or cotton handkerchiefs. Yes, they will disappear from sight, but someone, somewhere will end up fishing them out of the sewers. Allegedly 'flushable wipes' are not flushable either. If any of those items make it to an open body of water you will find them all over some beach in the zone by the high tide mark. The reason is they are not designed to disintegrate.

Tampons are not made of cotton wool. They are composed of cotton, rayon (made from wood pulp), 'polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, and fiber finishes. Aside from the cotton and fiber finishes, these materials are not bio-degradable. Organic cotton tampons are biodegradable, but must be composted to ensure they break down in a reasonable amount of time' (Wiki) And yes, I know that's just Wikipedia, but I think it is safe to disregard whatever Tampax and OB, etc. say about flushing them.

OP -- Wrap your soaked tampon heavily in TP and put it in a ziploc baggie. It will go safely in your bag until you find a bin outdoors to dispose of it if you can't find one in the house. I know people who have undersink cabinets with their bathroom bins in them. So maybe have a rummage around for a bathroom bin next time you need to dispose of a used tampon. If you already do this, then disregard.

I keep a bathroom bin in a little cupboard on which I have stencilled 'Bin' just to keep people from flushing pads or tampons in desperation. It's tacky but heyho. It means people can dispose of anything they want to whenever they need to and they don't have to waste time looking for it.

I have teenage DDs and a DS and all their friends traipse through my home frequently. I find it unreasonable to expect that none of them would ever need to dispose of menstrual products, hence the bin, and it is small and emptied a few times a week. I use a liner in it. I would be mortified if any of them felt any discomfort about a tampon or pad they had to dispose of.

*Zoe is surely about 15 and hairy of hand?

As Vintage says she is a Londoner, here is what Thames Water has to say:

Our message is simple, if it's not water, toilet tissue or poo, please... bin it - don't block it.

Thousands of unsuitable products are washed down the drain each year contributing to around 55,000 blockages across our supply area.

This is made worse by confusing and misleading product labelling, which encourages customers to flush unsuitable items, particularly toddler wipes and sanitary items. Although these items disappear when you flush your loo, they can take a number of years to break down. There are currently no restrictions in place to prevent these products being sold as 'flushable'.

The only product to pass water industry 'flushability' tests so far is toilet paper. Manufacturers have their own tests, which are more lenient resulting in a greater number of products being labelled 'flushable'.

To resolve this, the water industry and manufacturers are working together to develop a shared protocol. This project is also hoping to influence product labelling.

I'm puzzled at how anyone would ever know that a visitor had left a tampon in their bathroom bin. My life isn't exactly a social whirl of activity but it's not quite so dull that I have to fish through the items in my bin one by one for entertainment.

*as to how

Thank you MN. On balance I find this thread reassuring.

I really hope now that one day Zoe will hire me so I can leave him/her a lovely present in a scented bag. [Evil]

Where do you put used make-up wipes, tissues, floss, Q-tips, disposable razors, etc?

I don't use any of those items!

I would wrap any towels and take them with me to my own bin - I'm not squeamish about my own bodily waste but I am about other people's!