To wonder these bags are

[WhitePhantom]

OK, I have to make a confession first. Up until recently I always flushed tampons - I had never really thought about it and nobody had ever told me I shouldn't. It just seemed such an obvious thing to do. Then I discovered on mn that I shouldn't. That I should bag it and bin it instead.

So I started to look for bags for this purpose, but I can't find them. I'm using nappy bags, sandwich bags, small freezer bags, or whatever.

Are there not bags made specifically for this purpose, that are sold alongside all the rest of the women's sanitary products??

Eliza an aromatic thing 😂😂😂

However, please don't flush sanitary products down the toilet, they're a major cause of sea pollution.

agree, I've always flushed my tampons and never been told differently. What's the problem with doing that anyway? It's going to be really difficult to stop as its just an aromatic thing.

Just think before you do it. Birds are dying because they eat them and suffocate.

Is that what you want?

I wondered why Wiggle and her daughters and son's Gf's aren't doing it even though they know they should. Because I didn't know until this post. I'm 30 years of having my period no one has ever told me and my sons girlfriend had no idea too. I will try. I do have bags that we use in public toilets but it'll be very hard as its just an automatic thing now.

I would just use nappy sacks. We use them for the dogs poo. Really cheap in the supermarket.

Damn autocorrect. I meant automatic, just do it without thinking. I'll try to think before hand from now on though.

I use a moon cup but when I do use tampons I just wrap them in loo roll and put them in the bin, why send more plastic to landfill? I also use non applicator tampons for the same reason.

I just wrap them in a piece of toilet paper or the wrapper the new one has come out of and bin them. We have a bin upstairs and one downstairs which has a bin liner and when needed we just lift out the bag and put a new one in. The rubbish goes in the general waste bin.

If nothing else, they can clog the pipes something terrible, same as wet wipes. Imagine flushing it after a massive poo and having the floaty mess sitting on top as the water won't go down!

If you've never been told different and never had problems from doing so then I agree it's a hard habit to squash. I knew not to flush pads but didn't know about tampons until a few years ago and after that it took me a while to get used to it.

Just tell your daughters and your sons girlfriends not to flush them and wrap them in paper therefore you won't need bags. As for other coming into your house surely they only use your main toilet? make up a sign like in public bathrooms and stick it up in there.

I'm really shocked that, after 30 years of periods, you can still be unaware of how bad it is to flush tampons.

I'm equally shocked that young girls (someone mentioned their son's girlfriend) are also unaware and would rather flush than wrap them and pop them in a bin. I thought environmental issues were taught in schools these days.

It was about 6 months after I switched to a cup that I read here on MN that I shouldn't have been flushing tampons for all the years I did. I'm pretty sure that when I bought my first tampons the information leaflet said that even the card applicator could be flushed along with the tampon you were replacing, I never did this but I'm almost certain that that's what it said all those years ago. I didn't read the information after the first couple of boxes I bought, oops.

I feel bad for flushing for so long!

It does actually say on a box of tampax tampons that they can be flushed. I also read an article a while back saying that it's the older toilets that can't deal with tampons being flushed rather rhan the newer ones which cope better. I flushed for years and never had a problem arise so I had no clue of what it could lead to until someone told me. So many people still have no clue and I don't think one person who I've mentioned this too knew either. Such a shame that people don't know what damage they're doing to our environment and they're plumbing.

I didn't know this until a few years ago. My Mum told me to flush so I did. TBH often tampons just came out anyway particularly after four DC so I switched to mooncup.

What the hell? I have no idea how you could get through life not knowing this since everyone public loo/workplace toilet have signs everywhere saying "Do Not Flush". Honestly. Why do you think they have them up on the back of doors?
All the packaging says it too!
You dont need a bag either..so confused by this. Just wrap in toilet roll and put in sanitary bin or the bin at home. How can this be so hard to understand?
So ignorant.

I didn't know you're not supposed to flush tampons, either.
If it specifically says not to in a public loo, then I don't, but otherwise I do.
Genuine - but perhaps very naive - question: how are they ending up in the sea? Don't water treatment plants extract them before they get to the sea?!

Thanks all. I've no problem using nappy bags or whatever, just wondered where the bags are for this in particular (would prefer to bag as I feel it would pong very quickly otherwise - biodegradable BTW so not adding to the plastic problem )

I've looked in a couple of supermarkets, but didn't see any. I haven't done a major search for them or anything, but once I realised I shouldn't flush I kind of assumed they would be quite obvious and commonplace and that I just hadn't noticed them before.

Thanks everyone. Every day is a learning experience!

Elizawh how can having bags in all four toilets cost any more than having them in one toilet- you and your female relatives/family are only going to use one bag at a time, regardless of where the bags are.

I flush. Shoot me now if you will.

Back in the day the instructions told me I could flush both tampon and applicator. I always have.

As for the environmental side..... I am sure that stuff gets filtered at the waste treatment plants?

I'm not chucking them in the bloody sea!

I'm not chucking them in the bloody sea!

No you aren't, but it can still end up there.
There are overflow pipes that will take raw sewage straight out to sea if there is heavy rain.
If it does end up at the water treatment plant then a towel or tampon might well block up your pipes or the pipes further down the system.
Where do you think they go when they do get to the water treatment plant? It has to be picked out and then ends up in landfill anyway.

Just put it in a bag, is it really so much to ask?

www.marinet.org.uk/campaign-article/continuing-sewage-pollution-of-beaches

And also its really not good for your own plumbing, they can cause blockages. And if you have a septic tank then you really shouldnt be flushing them.
I don't undrstand the "if it has a sign i dont flush them because even if there is no sign there is still a saniaty bin. Why do you think there are companies that pick these bins up and deal with the contents? Use your brain!

I wonder if MNHQ can add this to the campaign on flushable wipes they posted earlier about?

No one should be taking through your bins, so why not just bin them?

Imagine when the plumber has to come round & unblock numerous tampons from your pipes and puts them in a neat little pile on your outside path?

*raking

@ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe

I wonder if MNHQ can add this to the campaign on flushable wipes they posted earlier about?

Hullo chaps - thanks for the suggestion, we'll pass it our Campaigns people and see what they think.

Thanks!

I grew up in a beach house, near the sewer outlet and still hadnt thought to not flush tampons.

That changed 2 years ago when the drain/sewer that only serves our row of 4 houses got blocked and overflowed by tampons and wipes into neighbours garden.

I was preg and had been when we moved in so not me, neighbours either side are elderly so not them. The neighbour on the end was absolutely mortified.