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

[YellowCat3]

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?

Oh, this is MN, where everyone's sense of smell is keener than a great white shark's. Every one on here can smell blood (or hair that hasn't been washed that morning, or a bra that hasn't been washed that morning, and it's very offensive to them, makes them want to puke, but not as much as any sort of air freshener, so you're pretty screwed either way) a mile away.

I've RTFT - it's been fascinating in more ways that one!

It's all been said - I'm afraid I have nothing new to add - but:

• I am (just!) the wrong side of 50, and was told I could flush sanitary products (all of them) down the loo back in the early 80s when my periods started.

• I disliked towels, tampons were ok (and I used them for years) but wrapped and binned.

• About 18 months ago swapped to a menstrual cup (not the 'main brand' - mine was from amazon for about £14.99). Was worried I'd left it too late to get the financial benefit (environmental benefit a no-brainer) but it's paid for itself a few times over already these last 18months (unfortunately still 'regular' - no sign of deviating from my 28-30 day cycle yet, wish it was all over! ).

• I do have to empty my cup once in the day and (if I wake up) once in the night during the first 36 hours as it doesn't hold enough not to, so do use a couple of the nighttime towels just for 'added security' during those times. The rest of the time, emptied in the shower in the morning, and down the loo just before I go to bed (for those worried you need to empty a cup as often as you change a tampon - obviously for those with period issues such as really heavy flow they might not be the best option. Each to their own need.)

• Bathroom bin-owning family with 3 adult females (me, 2 DC - one has converted to cup, also the odd pantyliner, the one a die-hard sanitary towel user, hates tampons, won't try a cup) who have done that odd thing of almost coinciding with cycles, which means we're all 'binning something' to some degree in quite a concentrated time period each month. Also a DH with sensitive nose. Bin has a liner, and swing top and is emptied once a week. Absolutely no 'smells' even during the 10 days or so a month when there's quite a lot of sanitary waste in it. I can't believe any of the 'sensitive' nose brigade on the thread would smell anything either. (I also note a lot of comments say they're 'worried' or 'afraid' it 'might' or 'would' smell, which means they haven't actually tried to see themselves!)

• Live near an 'energy from waste' plant which incinerates most of our non-recyclable rubbish, the steam it generates is 'sold' to the electricity company who use it to power the turbines to generate our electricity. Obviously things still being burnt, but they have 'stuff' to keep the emissions low, and at least do something with the energy incineration produces.

• I'm another one who hadn't heard of a menstrual cup until I read mumsnet. It does seem to be true it's not something people tend to talk about IRL - although I've mentioned mine to friends, and I think DC who uses one has too.

• And finally (phew - but well done to you if you've made it this far!) I know it's 'circumstantial evidence'/not proven, but cup-using DC used to have hideous period pain, and I'm at that age where - although flow is still regular - I was getting one night per cycle when still using tampons with painful clots trying to get out. (Used to get on all fours in the middle of the night in bed and to my giving birth breathing exercises!!!) Since we both changed to a cup both of us have noticed positive changes - DC still gets period pain, but it's much less, and I've not had a night where I've needed to 'breathe', nor have I collected anything like the 'clotty bits' I was getting before, since I swapped. If either of those things sound like you it might be worth a shot if you are open to trying a cup? (I think ours are from/called' Athena' on amazon - soft, variety of 'handles' and colours). And yes, they worn low down - definitely nowhere near your cervix!!!!

I'll shut up now - I am aware I've gone on rather too long for this time on a Tuesday morning!

But to sum up the general mood of the thread - if it ain't pee, poo or paper don't flush it!

I’ve always binned my pads since started periods, my mum used to tell me to rip them up and flush them but at that time I was environmentally cautious and had images of them
Ending up in the sea and so I binned them. It’s only now I realise that I wasn’t as eco as I thought considering they come in a plastic wrapping and backing.
Some magazines make their plastic wrappings from potato starch.. why can’t these manufacturers use this also for the envelopes they come in?
I’m going to google recyclable pads now (can’t bear tampons or mooncups- if I could I would)

I miss my cup. I was a mooncup veteran and evangelist. Then it managed to nearly pull my coil out.
I'm back to a ponging bin. (Yes. They smell...)

I used towels. So roll them or fold them up and use sticky backing to stop from unrolling. Then wrap in tissue paper and put in those scented tiny bin liner bags and then put in the bin in kitchen.

I use pads but wrap them in the wrapper of the next pad or toilet paper and put it in the outside bin or the bathroom bin with a lid that is emptied daily, I'm the only one that uses the bin.

In Past times women reused bits of cotton and washed them. In one of the descriptions of the women Jack the Ripper killed there is a list of her belongings which include rags for this purpose. The woman carried them around in a pouch under her skirt. Can't imagine they would be very clean either...

Mind blown. Always flush down loo. Never thought it was wrong?

I don't have periods now (mirena) and haven't for years. But I used to wrap in loo roll and put in the bin in the bathroom.

HOWEVER. I can smell them. I can smell the sanitary bins at work, and when a friend stays and leaves it in my bin. I don't mind, I'm not squeamish. But I can smell it. I admit my perimenopausal sense of smell is off the scale, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I am astounded there are still people that flush tampons. I have bad period pains / endometriosis and since swapping to a menstrual cup, period pants and washable liners I have finally had cycles where I haven’t had to take painkillers.

This isn't a generational thing, I'm over 60 and well past needing sanitary protection (though my adult DC and their friends do) and from when I started using tampons around 1970 I've never flushed them. Do people honestly think they just disappear somewhere between their loo and ...wherever what's flushed ends up? Much the same mentality as sending fat down the sink with hot washing-up water and not thinking what happens when it cools and congeals. Out of sight, somebody else's problem!

Surely there's been enough publicity over the past several decades so that nobody should think it's ok to flush anything but the 'three Ps - poo, pee and paper' (and vomit)? Not wet wipes of any sort, not cotton buds, dental floss, nappies, sanitary protection, goldfish.

A little bathroom bin, emptied as often as necessary, is just normal, surely? I remember my mother using paper bags in her bathroom bin and having a galvanised bucket in the garden to burn them when the neighbours were out, as she couldn't bear the thought of them going in the dustcart. I'm not sure how common that was, but the drains were sound.

Yes they do,everything smells!! But it's not an overpowering/disgusting/whatever smell. In a normal household it gets lost in all the other smells ,pleasant or not.

Some people make it sound like you need a hazmat suit just to be in the vicinity of a freaking tampon.

Into a bit of tissue, then a scented bag you can get in any chemists especially for sanitary items and then into the bathroom bin.

Bloody hell, I can tell exactly what's cooking for dinner just by smelling it, but I have never noticed a smell from a closed bathroom bin. Maybe when it's open and I'm hovering directly over it!

Even if it smells a bit - that's nature! Life's not all squeaky clean and bleached! People sweat, wee, poo, etc. Not a reason to block up drains.

When I was growing up my mum didn't have a bathroom bin so when I was on my period I had to carry all of the waste wrapped in loo roll in my hands or pocket to hide it (yuck) down the stairs to the kitchen bin and it was vile and humiliating to be honest with you. Periods were not discussed as openly then unfortunately. So yes I have a bathroom bin for loo roll that doesn't need to be flushed, tampon waste, dental floss, anything else that needs to go in a bin. I really, really hate bathrooms without bins. It just makes me feel gross. I clean this bin out regularly (clean the inside of it), it is made of plastic and spotless. I think bathrooms without bins causes some kind of anger in me now so I will stop there! I love my bathroom bins.

I too have and love bathroom bins. There is one in every bathroom as I used to also hate sneaking used tampons downstairs to people’s kitchen bins! I tend to use reusable pads now, so it isn’t for my benefit tbh.

loo roll that doesn't need to be flushed

Sorry, I'm curious - don't you just flush all loo roll?

I’m guessing the pp meant loo roll you’ve used for something random like blowing your nose or whatever - so as not to waste water by flushing it away.

I still flush it - the more water that goes down our drains the better. We were told last time they were blocked (not by us) to make sure plenty of water goes down and don't use the half flush.

are you talking about those ghastly plastic applicators? I use organic cotton tampons - they're exactly the same as any others and they are biodegradable.

Frankly I don't think the environmental impact differs on where you put your used ones, most plastic ends up in the sea anyway or landfill if you're lucky. The only way to limit your impact is just to stop using plastic - full stop.

I grew up in Greece and this thread has blown my mind that people would flush sanitary products down the toilet!! Why? Cause in Greece we don't even flush toilet paper!!! Don't know if the pipes are too narrow or the paper doesn't dissolve so well, but everywhere u go to public toilets u see signs telling u not to flush anything down the toilet.

Frankly I don't think the environmental impact differs on where you put your used ones, most plastic ends up in the sea anyway or landfill if you're lucky. The only way to limit your impact is just to stop using plastic - full stop.

Why not take it one step further and go the Moon Cup way.

It's not really the environment that's the problem with flushing tampons though is it? It's the fact they don't break down in the pipes and cause blockages.

It's not really the environment that's the problem with flushing tampons though is it? It's the fact they don't break down in the pipes and cause blockages.

Well, no, but a non-disposable solution is all the better.

I use organic cotton tampons - they're exactly the same as any others and they are biodegradable.

You still must not flush them.

Noone is talking about flushing the applicators, the thread is about flushing the tampons.