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?

This worry around period blood stinking is more to do with women's feelings of disgust around periods, than it has to do with any real hygiene issues.

I have never noticed any smell.

"Wrap in toilet paper and throw in kitchen bin. No more disgusting than shitty nappies, cat vomit, chicken guts and all the other shit that goes in there. Don't see why it's such an issue."

This. It's a tampon, not a relic from Chernobyl.

You would think about it if you swam or surfed in the sea. It's absolutely disgusting wet wipes and tampons floating about.
Even if they biodegrade it's not quick. Cotton probably takes years. You can get little degradable sanibags, easy to bin. No excuse.

I don't know if I have ever flushed sanitary products down the loo (and I started periods in 1970)!! I think the horror of wrapping a used tampon in toilet paper and placing in a bathroom bin (or carrying to a kitchen bin) is less than the embarrassment and expense of getting a blocked drain cleared. Those who flush, despite knowing that you are told not to by manufacturers and water companies, "Why?"

In some parts of the world without good sewerage systems, you can't even flush shitty toilet roll! Even that doesn't stink IME of you change the bin regularly. Unless your bathroom bin is next to a radiator I really don't think a few tampons or sanitary towels will make it smell unless you leave them there for weeks on end.

Surely any fluid that comes out of our bodies is going to start to smell if left for a few hours??

Why would it? If you blow your nose on a tissue, do you bag it before putting it into the bin? If you spit on a bit of tissue? If not, why not?

Somehow i don't see men agonising about their semen making the bin smell if they've used tissue to clean themselves up.

I'm amazed you can't see the difference between tissue and plastic going to landfill. I'm far from an eco warrior buts it's kind of obvious.

Wrap in toilet paper and throw in kitchen bin. No more disgusting than shitty nappies, cat vomit, chicken guts and all the other shit that goes in there.

Who puts shitty nappies in a kitchen bin? Now that really is rank surely.

“Beyond skanky” to use a kitchen refuse bin for refuse?

Flushing is bad for plumbing and the environment.

Blood doesn't smell, unless there's gallons of it everywhere (and if that's the case, see a doctor).

I take my bin out every couple of days, and even when I'm on my period it doesn't smell. If I accidentally buy those stupid scented pads, I can smell THOSE, but never blood.

If yours smells bad, you should see a doctor to check for infection.

No smells here, and I’m fairly sensitive to bin odours, so I think I’d notice.

@hannonle

No, you're certainly NOT meant to have a Mooncup/menstrual cup suctioned to your cervix!

They're meant to sit much lower down in the vagina. Check the website for them.

Literally just get a bathroom bin. Empty it daily if you want. I use a mooncup now but I still need a bathroom bin for floss, wrappers, empty toothpaste etc

I really don't understand why they are disgusting. Surely better to put in a bin than carry them through the house? It's your own menstrual blood. You put raw meat trimmings in the main bin, and no one worries about that smelling. So why would you worry about period smelling? No one has a problem with a bin in the kitchen where they prepare food and eat, so why would it be disgusting having it next to somewhere you shit? It's not like you have to lick it, there's a sink right there to wash you hands if you don't want to touch it. It's really odd, because it rather have something smelly in my bathroom than next to where I have to eat.

I have always known not to flush them, it's always on the news about fatbergs made of wipes etc. Every single public toilet says don't flush sanpro. I'm sorry but there's no way you can't know that they aren't flushable. It's just willful ignorance. Putting them in a bin is a hell of a lot less disgusting than whoever will have to unblock the pipe full of your used + now covered in shit sanpro. It's selfish and lazy, don't pretend otherwise.

@girlandboy hmm weird because that's what my non-mooncup cup does. Have I been using it wrongly for the last few years? Googles it

I wrap in loo roll and put in nappy bag which then goes in the bedroom bin. Bit strange buying nappy bags when my youngest baby is 16 😂

I've said it before on this type of thread and I'll say it again. There is absolutely nothing disgusting about a normal human function and the sooner women stop feeling 'disgusted' about a bit of blood the better. I wrap mine in loo roll and either put in the bathroom or walk into the kitchen and put in kitchen bin. Blood doesn't smell - at least no more than the banana skin or chicken carcass or whatever else is in the kitchen bin at the time. How women feel 'disgusted' to have a used tampon in the kitchen bin is beyond me.

Can't believe people are OK with blocking sewers and risking blocking their own toilets just because they can't be bothered to put them in a bin?
Our drains kept blocking and plumbers had to come outside twice to unblock. They then sent an info leaflet around the area saying they were having to unblock sewers outside because of flushed tampons and wipes, and that even flushable versions are not flushable and should go in the bin. Please don't be one of those neighbours 🙄

I have a very sensitive nose. I put chicken carcasses in the outside bin rather than the kitchen bin as that does IMO smell. Tampax and towels in bathroom bins do not.
It is true if you wear a bloodied towel for too long it will start to smell. That is the bacteria, not the blood itself. But any tampon or towel very quickly dries in the bin, and dried blood does not smell.

I legitimately did not know tampons couldn’t be flushed. My mum told me you couldn’t flush towels but tampons were fine. And I guess I just have never questioned that.

Mind blown. Won’t be flushing another tampon again. Cheers MN

I feel like a right idiot

Can't believe people are OK with blocking sewers and risking blocking their own toilets just because they can't be bothered to put them in a bin?

That's because in most cases they don't have to deal with the sight,smell,work and financial repercussions of fat bergs and the flushing on tampons.

Not flushing however, would involve looking ,touching and dealing with (shock horror) period blood!! The horror of it all.

It's just blood ffs.

Wrap in tissue in bathroom bin, empty quickly! DO not flush ffs - horrendous for drainage/sewers/environment.

This thread has actually annoyed me abit because I work as a housekeeper who empties up to 9 bathroom bins per day and I can tell you with absolute certainty that tampons/pads in the bin DO SMELL! It's a horrendous smell, and no I don't think periods are 'disgusting' or anything of the sort but it's just a fact, they stink, periods stink.

Have a coil and a septic tank. Thankfully there's no need for tampons, but flushing would be verrrrrrry bad. 'Pees, poops, and paper' is the mantra chez pi!

I just wrap them in some loo roll and chuck them in the bathroom bin. I presumed that’s what bins were for! Period blood is hardly hazardous toxic waste ffs.

I don't put raw meat trimmings, chicken carcasses in the kitchen bin. They are wrapped in newspaper and put in the food waste bin which is collected weekly. Only things like cat food pouches (washed) and non recyclable packaging goes in the bin. I think that's why I'm not keen on putting anything unwrapped in there.