To not understand how you can be so ignorant and unaware of the world around you that you still flush wet wipes and tampons down the toilet?

[A580Hojas]

How is it even possible in the information age?

I reckon a huge number of people know they shouldn't do it but flush anyway in the hope they will get away with it and they won't be the one having to dig out any resulting blockage.

Much like the hundreds of thousands of cunts who chuck their litter out of car windows - out of sight out of mind.

Gets me down, it does.

To play devils advocate... sometimes there isn’t an option.

Of course there is. Wrap it up and carry it round with you until you find a bin.

Theonlylivingboy - so at what point in using tampons for years and flushing them as the manufacturer said you could, was I supposed to psychically realise that wasn't the case and educate myself?

Where was this information widely disseminated? because it didn't get to me and I still wouldn't know if I hadn't seen a thread on MN.

I literally had no idea you weren't supposed to flush tampons until last year.

I was taught by my Mother and as a preteen, I to rip up sanitary towells and flush them. Then, at 14, a Tampax rep came to our school to promote the Tampax mini. She told us that the entire unit - tampon, and applicator and wrap - were flushable.

I hadn't thought about it since, but as I had switched to a moon cup 14 years ago. Then when I lost my cup in a house move last year, I switched to tampons for a while, caused a blockage in the toilet and was informed by my partner they weren't supposed to be flushed!

It's not the sort of thing that comes up in conversation really, but is it?

I think most people with very heavy periods probably flush, to be honest.

And ...

What do you do if the tampon falls out as soon as you sit down due to the weight of the "contents"? Fish it out?

A) really?
B) yes

Yes, I agree about not caring. They don’t care enough to find out.

You’re ignorant about loads of things, why aren’t others allowed to be? No one knows everything

Yes, I’m ignorant about loads of things. But not things that can be found out simply by reading the paper occasionally, or watching the news. You hardly have to go out of your way to research it

Hang on....
You don't flush tampons?????

Having a proper think about it I can definitely understand for septic tank users and yeah guess it makes sense everywhere, but I have always just assumed these signs referred to towels which have plastic.

In my defense I'm a very long term cup user so it has been about a decade since I considered tampon disposal in depth

I'm an ex water and sewerage company employee.

The advice is to "bag it and bin it". The 4 P's should be the only things to go down the toilet. Pee, Poo, Paper (toilet paper only) and Puke.
I've done my fair share of standing in the middle of a busy road in a high viz jacket looking down the drains at blockages.

I’d rather flush it. Lots of people do. I can’t get that upset about it to be honest. It’s not like I flush wipes or nappies... or crisps like the story upthread!

Well, people should get educated. Why is ignorance such an acceptable defence?

I think that's probably the most stupid thing I've read in a while tbh. If you don't know something and you don't even know you don't know that thing, how are you supposed to 'get educated'?

When was the last time you saw a message not to flush tampons on the news?

Anyway lots of people don’t watch/ read the news. Obviously.

...because everything in newspapers is true

Jeeze I am educated, but rarely watch the news. Although do listen to radio news frequently. And I didn't know this was a thing.

Wrapping it up is better than poo all over the floor from a backed up loo, surely?

Thames water on news today saying 30tonnes a DAY yes a DAY of wet wipes have be pulled out the system!!

"I can't get upset about it to be honest"

So that puts you in selfish fucker territory. Don't you agree?

I always thought tampons were flushable and the box used to say so. It was. Only a year or so ago I realised from mumsnet that they’re now not flushable.

I mean wet wipes they talk about all the time.

Perhaps there is still a taboo that means they never mention tampons?

It might not be the same with different water authorities, but Yorkshire water have recently had a campaign with videos on facebook and big ads on the side of buses telling people that only loo roll and body waste (pee, poo, puke)should be flushed away.

@Marypoppins There's always an alternative - eg being prepared, taking a bag with you even a doggy bag - though most people would put a note up over the loo and provide a proper covered and lined loo bin for wetwipes/panty liners etc.

I had a flat where wet wipes stuffed up the cess pit (often only alternative in the countryside) which meant foul fluid flowing out and contaminating paths and gardens.

But the mountains of fatbergs which cities pay millions to clear aren't just wet wipes - it's fat down the drain mixed with wetwipes, cleaning wipes, people just not knowing what to do.

I honestly didn't know until a couple of years ago. I am so ashamed.

This sounds really silly, but I was told to flush them as a teen and then never questioned it afterwards

I now use dog disposal bags.

I am well educated, well read and consider myself pretty environmentally aware. I never knew you could not flush tampons until I read it on MN some years ago.

I didn’t know until a recent thread on here and I’m nearly menopausal. Like another poster said, the advice was to flush when we started using them. And I can’t say I’ve ever seen any news items about it.

I didn't know this until recently.

I draw the line at extracting them from the loo if they fall out though (stupid heavy flow)

But not things that can be found out simply by reading the paper occasionally, or watching the news. You hardly have to go out of your way to research it

You're talking crap.

If the information was so readily available by reading a paper or watching the news 'occasionally' then there'd not be so many people, as shown by this thread, that don't even know you shouldn't flush tampons.

Like a pp, the last time I read a tampon leaflet was when I was 12 when flushing was recommended. It hasn't occurred to me since.

True, of course there are many millions of things I don't know.

But this is a serious biggie. It suggests to me that anyone who doesn't know spends their life avoiding serious subjects and personal responsibility or being devoid of the ability to think for a moment.