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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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?

331 replies

A580Hojas · 14/02/2018 18:50

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.

OP posts:
MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 14/02/2018 19:57

SundaysFunday

It’s happened to a few of us! Gosh yes we must be putting them in upside down, inside out or still in the packet or something, silly old us Grin

JacquesHammer · 14/02/2018 19:58

If your tampons falling out then you are using the wrong ones or putting it in wrong

Don’t be ridiculous. Can you not imagine the slightest situation where women have heavy enough periods for that to happen? For avoidance of doubt, my huge fibroids tend to push them out at times.

If they fall into the loo, then yes I fish them out and bin them appropriately.

I use a bag a day then dispose of the bag at the end of the day.

There is never “no option”. If I don’t have a bag and there’s no bin, I wrap in tissue and put in the nearest bin.

IHaveBrilloHair · 14/02/2018 20:00

Back when I first started my period 30 years ago, the advice was to rip them down the middle and flush.
Tampons were flushable as was the wrapper and tube.

I know better now and have taught Dd not to flush but this thread is seriously weird.

Crashbangwhatausername · 14/02/2018 20:00

Jacques sorry to lower the tone but with my periods come looser than usual bowel motions and if my tampon fell into that I think I would definitely let it be flushed

WineCheeseSleep · 14/02/2018 20:03

I'd never heard of not flushing tampons honestly and I'm usually pretty good at following guidelines on things. I never use them anymore but I'm sure when I did we were advised to flush them? I hadn't read anything about it changing but will definitely not do it anymore if I ever use them again. I always knew about wet wipes, I think the advice has been consistent there.

IHaveBrilloHair · 14/02/2018 20:03

I also had no idea you were to scrape the poo off disposable nappies before you binned them.

bigbluebus · 14/02/2018 20:06

I'm also of the generation who started using tampons in the days when the leaflet said to dispose of them by flushing them down the toilet. And not surprisingly, having mastered using them quite quickly, I never felt the need to re-read the instructions - so I only found out about not flushing from mumsnet after many many years of flushing. Since then I have also seen a poster from Dwr Cymru on the back of a toilet door at the gym - but that is the only one I have ever seen - and I've been in lots of toilets!

So YABVU to think that people should just know this information when it is not publicised enough. I have never received this information from my water/sewage supplier.

blackteasplease · 14/02/2018 20:06

I hadn't realised that the wet wipes that say "flushable toddler wipes" couldn't actually be flushed. I don't think that can be called obvious!

heyok · 14/02/2018 20:08

I honestly didn't know I shouldn't flush tampons until coming on this thread. I have never chucked anything else down the loo or littered

specialsubject · 14/02/2018 20:09

Packets lie and that needs to be stopped.

Nothing is flushable except body waste and ( in the UK) toilet paper. Nothing else. That's the message.

aliasjoey · 14/02/2018 20:11

Due to a bowel condition I use wet wipes to clean afterwards, and of course I flush them. I’m not putting shitty wipes in the bin, I’d have to use plastic bags to store them and then we’ve got the plastic in landfill argument instead. I’d normally use 6-8 a day (I’ve started tearing them in half before use to help them not block the pipes)

An ageing population with health conditions is only going to lead to an increase in people who do this. Instead we should be looking at ways of making wipes which are genuinely flushable. I did manage to get some from a pharmaceutical company when we were going on holiday to somewhere with a septic tank. However they were astronomically expensive and not a long term solution.

Akire · 14/02/2018 20:13

Yes sticker on every packet would make huge difference. They should be fined saying flushable why every water company says no.

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 14/02/2018 20:13

I hadn't realised that the wet wipes that say "flushable toddler wipes" couldn't actually be flushed. I don't think that can be called obvious!

This! Never used them personally but if I had then I would have assumed that the “flushable” bit was a bit of a clue!

I still remember the look of horror on my teacher’s face when we were having the period cha t and one girl said her sister just put her pads in the bin. “Well I think it is a bit nicer to flush them away don’t you Sharon?”

And that is pads! Not tampons! Pads!

specialsubject · 14/02/2018 20:14

In Greece that is exactly what happens with toilet paper - in the bin. Yes, in landfill too , but no blocked pipes.

GretaBritain · 14/02/2018 20:14

I have heavy periods. Variable flow throughout the period.

I use super plus tampons plus sanitary towels and on heavier days the tampon may fall out...sometimes not. If I am work, for example, I wouldn't be fishing them out of the bowl or trying to catch them and then trying to deal with the resulting blood all over the place.

  • I really am putting them in properly I promise Hmm

Has anyone seen those toilet bowls with the 'shelf' inside that catches everything? They are really common throughout Europe. Something like that would give you a chance to get the tampon I suppose.

Slightly jealous of those who can't imagine a blood soaked tampon slipping out during a heavy period!

Cherrycokewinning · 14/02/2018 20:14

There are plenty of blocked pipes in Greece. That’s the whole problem, the plumbing is ancient and doesn’t work effectively

oblada · 14/02/2018 20:16

You have to scrape poo of nappies?? Why do people use disposable nappies then??

I also had no idea re tampons until fairly recently and I'm not stupid. For a short period I also believed flushable wipes were...well flushable!!

What really pisses me off is how people do not realise they need to have 2yrs of service in a job before they can challenge a (standard) dismissal!! I mean how dim can people be!!! (That's a joke of course!! Everyone is ignorant of a lot things)

wineusuallyhelps · 14/02/2018 20:16

Sorry to be crass, but if I've used a tampon that's too small and done a substantial number 2, it has pushed the tampon out on the way.

This has also happened if I haven't got a mooncup in properly.

Make of that what you will Grin. In defence of my vaginal muscles, I must state that I have given birth 3 times.

Notso · 14/02/2018 20:16

I didn't know about not flushing tampons until I read it on here a couple of years ago. I'd have been about 34/35. When I started my periods at 11 my Mum told me to flush the tampon and I did although not the wrappers like she used too Hmm.
Incidentally by that time I was already using a mooncup because every single tampon fell out when I sat on the toilet after I'd had DC4.
DD doesn't flush hers.

ChocolateWombat · 14/02/2018 20:17

I think we have conclusive evidence from 6 pages of this thread that......loads of people don't know tampons shouldn't be flushed or the only place they have ever seen this info is on MN.

Most of the population are not on MN, therefore there will be very many people who don't know too.

Contrary to the daft OPs view, they haven't all wittingly neglected the information or chosen to do an un- green thing,

There maybe other things that we grew up doing and being told were normal and are still doing because we are unaware they aren't good and thinking on them has changed.

BuzzKillington · 14/02/2018 20:17

I flushed tampons for at least 25 years, before I knew better. Most of my friends still do. One even flushes the cardboard applicator thingy on the ones she uses.

MikeUniformMike · 14/02/2018 20:22

The tampons I tried would fall out on a light day. They were applicator ones. They were transformed into a tape-like spiral. It was a few yrs ago. Not used them since.
Another complaint of mine is the overflowing sanitary bin with a bloody towel like a great big tongue poking out of it. If the workplace is mainly young women, the bins will fill quickly. And surely, the wretched things could be put in the bin with a bit more care.

MaryShelley1818 · 14/02/2018 20:24

I flush tampons as does everyone I know - genuinely didn’t know you couldn’t!
We’re a pretty well educated bunch too...all with professional jobs 😳

NewImprovedNinja · 14/02/2018 20:26

I'm in my 50's and I've never flushed a tampon. I've always just wrapped them in loo paper and put in the nearest bin if there's no sanitary bag and bin nearby. So suggesting that everyone flushed them back in the 80's is bollocks.

NotAnotherEmma · 14/02/2018 20:26

There are a lot of deeply stupid people in the world, who are responsible for the existence of most warning signs and labels. Unfortunately they probably can't read the signs but many have pictures so there's no excuse for their stupidity.