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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask...where do you put your used tampons at home?

475 replies

YellowCat3 · 07/04/2019 15:27

Okay, I'll fess up...for years I've flushed them [blush. I've never thought too much about the enivronmental impact as I thought it was the same as loo roll, but have recently become aware that I definitely need to stop.

But I don't like the thought of them lingering around the house. We don't have a bin in the bathroom as it seems disgusting somehow, and our only bin is in the kitchen. It seems beyond skanky to put soiled tampons in there. I just wondered what other women do - do you put them straight in the bins outside, or are you happy to have bloody tampons in the bins inside for days? Not sure if I am being OCD about this (probably), but feel puzzled as to the best way to dispose of them?

OP posts:
magpie24 · 08/04/2019 08:54

Definitely get a bathroom bin, I hate visiting people's houses when they don't have one! And just wrap in toilet paper and into the bin, as others have said. Don't wrap in plastic bags! That's wasteful.

Eyre89 · 08/04/2019 08:55

StarTheGirl do the cheeky wipes pads stay in place? I've tried some and they slide all over

StormcloakNord · 08/04/2019 09:00

What's wrong with just pads? [Confused]

PookieDo · 08/04/2019 09:02

MN also find pads discusting
I use pads and can’t use tampons

JacquesHammer · 08/04/2019 09:08

What's wrong with just pads?

Don’t work for swimming or contact sports for a start!

cushellekoala · 08/04/2019 09:15

I personally find pads bulky, uncomfortable, prone to leakage and not great under tight sportswear but i dont think they're disgusting. I know other people prefer them and i would encourage dd to try them when she starts her period as they are slightly easier.

Lavellan · 08/04/2019 09:16

I grew up being told to never flush em, the first time I used someone else's bathroom and found a tampon floating in the water was a huge shock!

I also find it quite rude to not provide a bin in the bathroom for guests. It's a basic courtesy to save people from carrying used tampons or pads into the kitchen. They're always warm, gads!!

LaurieMarlow · 08/04/2019 09:23

Surely pads have exactly the same issues as tampons in terms of disposal?

SayNoToCarrots · 08/04/2019 09:27

I remember living in a country where tampons are uncommon once and mentioning to a friend I couldn't find any so I'd got some pads. "Oh gawd I can't let you do that!" she said, and handed over three tampons. We were there six months. (I don't think she should have furnished me with six months supply, but I was fine with pads and three tampons wouldn't last me a day).

Another time I was getting ready to go out with a friend, in a country that recommends its citizens dont even flush toilet paper, and realised she had thrown all of her cotton pads, buds and q-tips in the loo - according to her common practice in Canada.

Sparklingbrook · 08/04/2019 09:27

MissGuernsey I am honoured you think I am a'typical mumsnetter' 😀

I haven't flown since 2003 and my children are teenagers so no nappies here.
I drive because I live semi rurally and need to get to work. To pay for my tampons, which I don't flush. Smile

Lavellan · 08/04/2019 09:28

Laurie Marlow I've seen pads floating about in public loos, they don't go down easily. So fewer people try it I suspect.

BertieBotts · 08/04/2019 09:29

When I was a teenager, which wasn't that long ago, as in it was this century, my mum told me you were supposed to flush tampons.

I don't use them and wouldn't flush now if I did, but that's why plenty of people think it's OK.

BlackPrism · 08/04/2019 09:30

I put them in the bathroom bin which is lined with a nappy sack.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 08/04/2019 09:34

How are people who put them in a plastic bag thinking this is better?! Jesus Christ. Buy a mooncup

I don't want a fucking mooncup! Why can't people accept that everyone is different rather than telling them to do as they do?

I will continue using plastic bags until I use up the ones I have as they will go into landfill either empty or used. When they are gone I will buy something biodegradable.

Slowknitter · 08/04/2019 09:44

I can't believe so many people are so pathetically precious about normal bodily functions. All this "Eww" "yuck" "yack" "gross" makes you sound like a spoilt, squeamish 12 year-old. How on earth are your poor over-sensitive nostrils more important than the state of the planet? If you think it smells, empty the bin more often fgs.

Sparklingbrook · 08/04/2019 10:18

Mooncups seem to be the answer to everything. Grin

LaurieMarlow · 08/04/2019 10:20

Is it just me that’s never heard of a moon cup outside MN?

AlaskanOilBaron · 08/04/2019 10:25

Is it just me that’s never heard of a moon cup outside MN?

IME, this is one of those rare crossovers between real life in MN. I hear loads about mooncups outside of hear - on the other hand, most people have loo brushes (and bins!) and have little interest in whether someone else breastfeeds or sends their child to private school. Or voted for Brexit.

ethelfleda · 08/04/2019 10:34

Has anyone tried reusable pads? I’m trying to decide between these and a moon cup now.
I think I could get used to cleaning a mooncup but what about at work??

VanGoghsDog · 08/04/2019 10:34

My parents don't have a bin in the 'guest' bathroom and it does my head in. No way am I going to wander downstairs with a rolled up towel in my hand.

They also don't have a kitchen bin, they just pout stuff on the side and my dad takes it to the outside bin a few times a day - can't quite see me putting the rolled up towel with that stuff for him to ask me what it is and whether it goes in the main bin or is recyclable.

Not that I think they should get either bin, I don't expect my 80yo mother to have to empty my sanitary wear from a guest bathroom bin when I can just not give her the problem in the first place.

But, as I am an adult (who soon will not need these things, I hope!) I take a plastic bag and put the rolled up towels, wrapped in loo roll, in there and throw them away when I get home. To be fair, I never stay with them for more than two nights though.

Sparklingbrook · 08/04/2019 10:35

Nobody has ever told me they use one and I have never seen one in RL except for sale in Boots. But I don't discuss periods in RL.

ethelfleda · 08/04/2019 10:35

I do think that the general consensus on mn to not have a toilet bin or a toilet brush is really weird.
I hate it when I stay at someone’s house and they have neither. What if you need to clean up after yourself??

namechangedforanon · 08/04/2019 10:38

Always flushed them . Moving to a cup from this month ...

Unburnished · 08/04/2019 10:40

Wrap them in loo roll and put them in my bathroom bin. Empty the bathroom bin every day at that time of the month. It's not difficult is it.

If you have small children or animals, you might want to put them in the outside bin straight away though.

havingtochangeusernameagain · 08/04/2019 10:42

Funny how the 'save the planet' brigade are quiet about the scourge disposable nappies are on the planet

Where I live all rubbish is burnt to generate electricity.