AIBU to be so naive - embarrassing question!!!!

[loveyouradvice]

Almost too embarrassed to ask... so simple, so ignorant....

Im a long-term Lillets user... occasionally I buy Tampax as desperate and nowt else to buy....

So much stuff... Lillets, everything flushes down the loo....

Tampax - nice little paper wrapper AND double tube thing.... At home, where do you put these? Presumably neither flush....

I've spent last 3 days, carefully wrapping in loo paper and putting in bathroom bin... feel a bit ridiculous... but they feel too revealing just lying there for all to see in the bin.....

Guessing Im missing something really obvious....

Oops pacific not Atlantic, got my oceans mixed up. Either way it's a big old swirling pile of trash.

I've never put them in the bin. Always flushed. Lesson learnt. Can't say that after years of using I read the packaging. Plastic easier to guide in my tilted/crooked womb and canal. Never flushed a sanitary pad though. No one will bother making them biodegradable. As we've seen with the tampon tax and many less well off nations, periods are not priority.

I ... am not hugely concerned about family seeing that I have my period. If you have a lid for the bin, I fail to see what the problem is?

I don't think it is healthy to be ashamed about your period even in front of the people you live with.

If you don't want anyone in the office to know, fair enough, but at home ....

Mine are wrapped in toilet roll, put in a nappy sack and then in the bin. I know nappy sacks are bad for then environment but I don't fancy having used tampons in the bin for 2 weeks, especially in the hot weather!

I've never heard before about not flushing tampons. Can't really understand the level of anger and snottiness on this thread towards other women. If someone genuinely doesn't know why not educate them without sneering and telling the they're stupid? FWIW I've never had blocked drains.

I agree with namechange20050 - mooncups/Divacups are the way to go - oh my god, so much better than anything else I ever used - eco, miles more comfortable, fantastic for sport (cycling long distances they are perfect as you don't have to change/ empty them nearly so often - only every 12 hours or so) and no risk of toxic shock.
Also very glad to hear lots of you wouldn't ever flush tampons. We have a b&b, and have a pump system for our waste water, so have to ask people not to flush anything other than loo paper or it will totally bugger the system. Always worried people will be horrified at putting tampons in the bin, but nobody has minded so far - thank goodness !

Mooncups rock how I wish I discovered them earlier

I have always flushed them (and pads ripped lengthways) and always will. I can't understand why anyone would want to be wrapping them in even more non degradable packaging and wrappings to dispose of them - it's crazy.
I also don't understand tampons with applicators - more excess packaging....why is the applicator needed at all?

I buy nappy sacks for used sanitary products and have a small clip lid bin next to loo. Four menstruating women in the house 😑

....why is the applicator needed at all?

It obviously is by some people otherwise they wouldn't sell them. Are you really asking women to justify how they insert things into their vagina? Perhaps describe their technique or difficulties?

Jacques hammer, I do apologise for not RTFT but it's late and I just wanted to say that when I was 13 and had just started using tampons, I couldn't manage them without a smear of Vaseline on the applicator. I have no idea if it's ok to shove Vaseline up there, but it certainly worked and I didn't have Google to enquire!

I have always flushed them (and pads ripped lengthways) and always will.

Wtf is wrong with you? "And always will"?? Even after 13 pages of people telling you how flushed sanpro clogs up drains and ruins sewage systems/ends up on beaches next to toddlers?

As for this I also don't understand tampons with applicators

Some of us can't use any other type. I once tried a non-applicator one and it squashed into a ball.

Do you realise the sheer vile hypocrisy of having a go at women that use applicators (and bin them), then saying you will "always flush tampons" after people have told you it's awful!

starlight I wouldn't be able to put a tampon without applicator unless I hurt myself. TMI: my vagina folds a bit towards the back instead of the front and if I just push with my fingers, the tampon bends or hurts me. The applicator makes it easier because the hard tube goes through the bend and straightens it, so I can push the rest up. I was told this is fairly common. For those with weak muscles after birth, it helps to push it up further, as otherwise it might get half way and can be pushed down and out involuntarily. So a few different reasons.

Again, please don't flush. I had the very bad experience of getting my parents' flat flooded with waste water, things floating around and weeks to sort out. Please get a bathroom bin. You can get the ones that swing so you don't see anything if you are bothered. Also, if you use them all the time, please read about Tampon Toxic Shock, it's important that people know the symptoms, a few teenagers have been critically ill from keeping tampons for too many hours and thinking their symptoms were just a cold.

I have a Luna moon cup and it's very convenient, I do alternate with pads, though. It takes a bit to learn how to put it in and take it out without being any more messy than with a tampon.

This is exactly why I switched to mooncup. I realised flushing was bad and could not bear the thought of my tampons sitting in landfill. Mooncup took a good few months to get used to, but i was determined.
Would never ever go back to tampons. I do honestly forget I am on my period at times now! 😁

Wow the sheer aggression of some people saying don't flush! Until I was around 18 when I started working in an office that had a sign saying not to flush tampons I never realise you shouldn't. I used mini sized lillets which were still reasonably small fully absorbed so it never occurred to me not to as in my family bathroom there was not a bin (turns out it was across the enormous bathroom floor and inside the bathroom closet). After that I no longer flushed them. After having children I had the dilemma of smaller tampons leaking but larger ones feeling extremely uncomfortable so tried a moon cup. I have never looked back!

No waste for landfills, 12 hours between emptying and no risk of toxic shock. Also for those fearing a mess when changing, after the first few times you get the hang of it, the idea being you can remove the cup that has caught the blood inside it, thus the part you are touching is mostly clean, you empty it, rinse it and I also wipe thoroughly to ensure it remains clean when reinserting. When out and about it is easy to avoid needing to empty as you can leave it for 12 hours but if you do need to you can empty and wipe out with tissue to clean properly when you get home, or take a bottle of water or intimate wipes with you in your handbag. I'm 28 and have been using the mooncup for nearly 2 years now and it is the single best change I ever made! Going on the difference to the amount of waste they can make per woman I reckon they'd would even be a good investment for the government to fund 1 free cup every X amount of years for women to save on landfill costs.

why is the applicator needed at all nothing like RTFT for people's reasons for this.

digging thanks 😊for me it's the length of applicator is the issue - longer cardboard are excruciating against scar tissue

"I realised flushing was bad and could not bear the thought of them sitting in landfill".

Errr...where do you think they go if you put them in the bin, to a magic invisible land? I can understand that if you stack out the toilet then it may cause a blockage but it is just common sense and maybe requires a couple of flushes.
Any "sludge" from the sewers gets collected aside as a matter of course and delivered and dug into fields etc as 'manure' - I can confirm this as I'm a farmer and do this. I think those who still believe that it gets pumped onto the beaches are quite out of date.
Wrapping them in even more plastic and binning them maybe more convenient for your pipes but it is much worse for the environment.
So for those who seem so angry and desperate for a fight about this but these are the reasons why I always flush. Really, I should be burning them and digging them into my own garden.
I also have a vaginal tilt, more pronounced after having children but it is not a problem if I apply the tampon standing at a slight angle. Sorry for tmi but I'd rather go to the amazing effort of leaning forward just slightly then be responsible for an applicator and more waste - unless they are bio degradable? Apologies if they are, I haven't looked recently.
Hopefully someone who works in this industry could enlighten us?

Try a mooncup. They're brilliant and much smaller eco footprint.. (I bought a seperate saucepan to sterilise mine which I don't keep in the kitchen, I wouldn't want it to accidentally be used for cooking)

I always bit things like this in the bin. I wrap both in tissue and place in a nappy bag. On my period the bathroom bin is emptied twice a day. I just don't like the idea off them just sitting there scented bags or not.
I have never flushed them down the toilet.

oh dear, an early poster was right that you would get a load of messages about not flushing things down the loo! just to add a point of interest - we had loo hassle when we moved into a new house. If you do get a blockage in your loo try this neat trick! Pour half a bottle of bog standard (no pun intended) shampoo down loo. Then the contents of a boiled kettle (this bit is scary if your loo close to overflowing but I risked it a few times now and personally it's worked). Put lid down (like you wouldn't at the moment eh?) and then after half an hour, very bravely flush! Amazingly everything natural will have just broken down and disappeared. Ta da! Also a generally fairly useless plumber gave me this bit of advice: Don't use posh loo roll, just the cheapest you can get as this is the stuff that breaks down the best. All the quilted velvet multiply once block your loo. So here we are, lots of unsolicited but free and well meaning advice ;-)

Sorry for tmi but I'd rather go to the amazing effort of leaning forward just slightly

Wow could you be any more patronising?? Are you one of those tiresome individuals who assume all women's anatomy works like theirs?

I can lean forward until my head is between my knees, but I am pretty sure - and happy to be corrected by a medic - that won't solve the issue of large pockets of scar tissue from 48 stitches post birth.....

It really isn't an ignorant thing to think

Lilets instructions say you can flush!

Until reading this thread I never knew you couldn't flush tampons. I remember being told at school that it was all flushable and went down the loo! Not that it makes much difference as I've never really used tampons. The last box I bought was when on holiday a few years ago and I came on unexpectedly.
Mooncup convert here. No need to worry about such issues

STARLIGHT yes, I'm shouting! The poster you quoted said "This is exactly why I switched to mooncup. I realised flushing was bad and could not bear the thought of my tampons sitting in landfill." She doesn't think the bin gets emptied to magic land, that's why she uses a moon cup.

As for what happens to sewage in your area- every area is different! Some areas still overflow into rivers and the sea if there is heavy rain.