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?

Wrap in loo roll, put in small lidded pedal bin which is lined with small bin bags and emptied often.

I hold mine in my hand and walk and put it in the kitchen bin. I don't put it in a bag as it is going in the bin.

Unless you are vegan, there is blood in the fridge, bin etc from meat and fish wrappers, cows milk is a bodily fluid.

Thankfully no one has died yet from me putting a blood soaked tampon in the kitchen bin. The bin is taken out when it's full, every day or two.

We were also told that it was fine to flush them by the tampon lady. We have a septic tank so our waste doesn’t go to the sea or mainline pipes. It was only when I joined mumsnet that i realised you shouldn’t flush them.
However I hate bathrooms not having bins. It’s so inconvenient

Please could a bathroom bin-hater articulate what is disgusting about a bathroom bin with a lid.

What about guests who need to change sanitary protection? My parents don't have bathroom bins (not for reasons of hygiene, mind you, they haven't replaced the toilet brush since 1998) and it's really embarrassing having to cart my used bloody tampons out to their wheely bin. Do your guests not mind? Have you never asked them?

hannonle they definitely shouldn't suction around your cervix!? Unless divacups are different to mooncups

www.mooncup.co.uk/using-mooncup/where-do-i-position-my-mooncup/

Have you never asked them?

Ignore that, of course you wouldn't! My pre-dinner cocktail has made me lose my mind a bit

Fwiw (although I do understand different people have been told different things growing up), I am 45 and honestly cannot remember a time when I didn’t know it was absolutely not OK to flush them. In my youth the reason we got was “it might block the plumbing” rather than anything about the environment per se, but it was still very clear. I used to see signs about it public places fairly often too, which can’t be a memory unique to me.

I would’ve died of shame if someone’s plumbing got snarled up with my sanpro so I was always happy to comply!

Just get a small bathroom bin that you empty every couple of days. If you don't have a bathroom bin then any guest on her period would have to stuff used tampons or pads in their pocket. I would hate people to feel uncomfortable like that so I've always had a bathroom bin just for that reason.

I’ve always flushed them, still do now. I put the plastic applicator in the bin though, I thought it was fine to flush them? Aren’t they biodegradable?

Periods are super disgusting and BAD and if anyone ever knew you had one they would ostracize your forever so you have to wrap your used tampons in fifty layers of something and then take them into the forest in the middle of the night to burn. I thought everyone knew that.

I’m in my early 50s and I’ve always known not to flush them , it’s not a new thing . Anyhow wrap in loo roll and into the bathroom pedal bin . How is a bin with a lid and a plastic bag as a liner unhygienic as long as the bag is changed regularly .

we have small pedal bins with lids and get small bin liners - 1 in both bathrooms, that way there is a bin for guests.

I use biodegradable bags in a tiny bathroom bin, for the rare times I use one. I'm 50 and my periods are rare these days, and I use a mooncup when necessary. DD also puts her used pads into the bin, and is looking into reuseable pads.

Even flushable tampons or flushable wipes go into the bin (changed every day). Only human waste and toilet paper gets flushed in this house.

We have 2 bins in our house, one for recycling, one for other waste. Both in the kitchen. I use reusable pads now so nothing to bin but when I did, just wrap in tissue and pop in the kitchen bin.

Kitchen bins get emptied every day or two, if we had bins elsewhere, there's no way we'd remember to empty them regularly. Especially if they had s lid so we wouldn't see they were full. Toilet roll tubes, shampoo bottles etc just go straight in to the kitchen recycling bin.

We don't use cotton buds, make up remover pads, dental floss or nail varnish pads so literally the only thing in a bathroom bin would be sanitary wear and then prob only a few tampons or pads a month, the rest mostly changed out of the house, not worth having a whole bin just for that.

It would take months to fill even a very small bathroom bin. Then the contents would be moved from bathroom to kitchen bin so just cut out the middle man and put straight in kitchen bin.

A bathroom bin thread was long overdue.

Bathroom bin right next to toilet

Amazed that so many people think wrapping tampons in loo roll is going to prevent them stinking out a bin.

I use nappy bags. I don't like adding to the extra plastic waste, but overall I can't see that it's any worse than wasted loo roll.

I have a heavy flow and mine drip. I use a bag then the bin. I honestly wouldn't get away with just loo roll but I do use one bag per day to save on plastic.

We don't have people staying over and I have a separate toilet/bath with no room for even a teeny weeny bin, otherwise I'd have one.

In the unlikely event we did have a guest on their period they'd just have to wrap it in tissue and bin it discreetly in my kitchen bin or put it in their bag to bin later on. No big deal.

I'm not sure why this is being represented as a generational thing, I was taught not to flush them by someone who's now in her 70s, know people even older who don't flush them. Most people wrap them in loo roll and put them in the bathroom bin. Who on earth is the tampon lady? Is that like the tooth fairy?!

You can get very narrow, bathroom bins we have one that fits down by the side of the sink/cupboard unit.

Jesus, I am embarrassed for all the PP’s who admit to flushing their tampons/sanpro down the toilet. Even more for those defiantly posting that they flush and will continue to do so as if adding to the problem of ‘fatbergs’ and used sanpro turning up on beaches is something to be proud of. I’m 47 and have known not to flush for over 30 years.

To those going on about a bathroom bin, what do you use as a bin liner? Do you use biodegradeable ones or not line the bin? I can't imagine not lining a bin!

My bathroom bin has a plastic inner. I don't line it, just clean it with anti bac cleaner when I empty it.

Get a bathroom bin. Even biodegradable products shouldn't be flushed down the toilet.
Even better try a menstrual cup. I've only started using one in my 40s but it's great not having any waste at all.

Wrap in loo roll etc but the mother of a friend when I was a teenager used to keep torn-out pages from a magazine in the bathroom, for wrapping sanitary items in. Better than plastic bags, sturdier than loo roll? Why don’t you have a bin though, that seems daft.