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?

Flush the actual tampon but recycle the cardboard applicators

@Prometheus, thank you! What hope is there for the next generations if women who have been having periods for years are still getting squeamish about their own body and its functions! It's the same as women who wont go for smear tests because they're embarrassed. Ffs, talk about a step back. Get to know your own body and how it works!

Why do you wash cat food pouches?!? Is that a council requirement or just choice????

I wrap them in loo roll and put them in the bin.

SauvingnonBlanketyBlanc - you're not supposed to flush tampons...

@Frumpypigsskin honestly didn't know that!

I use them to make tea

YourSarcasm it's choice. If we don't they start to smell in the warm weather and we had maggots in the outside bin one year. Last year during the heatwave we were bagging them as well.

I just wish the bloody things were recyclable - 60 pouches a month is a lot going into landfill.

Small pedal bin in bathroom. I use pads rather than tampons but have always just folded them up in a little bit of toilet roll and placed in the bin.

In a lined bathroom bin with a well fitting lid, along with ds2's incontinence pads. Or I did when I needed them.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat My sister has underfloor heating and her kitchen bin smells like the city dump after 2 hours. God bless my cold house. Keeps bins fresh for days! 😀

Sorry @PinkSparklyPussyCat my point was her cat food pouches stink for this reason and I couldn't understand why!

GimmeBread that's interesting, I've been regretting not putting down underfloor heating when we redid the kitchen. You've just made me feel a whole lot better! We've got a cold house apart from the bathroom which is lovely and toasty but another reason for not having a bin!

.

I have a period shed out the back where I stay for the duration of my period so as not to disgust any family members with my naturally funtioning female body

Dirty girl @Vulpine!!!

Ive bought flushable ones for the past 3 years since I realised the others weren't

Honestly....I flush them....toilet brushes and bathroom bins are banned in our house. Yak.

Stop please, no one wants your tampons in the sewer system.

No bathroom bin? So what do you do with bathroom waste? Cotton pads, empty product bottles, floss? Do you walk across your bedroom/landing carrying them to the nearest bin? That's yak!

With both tampons and towels I put them in nappy bags and straight down to the green wheelie bin

@Sparklingbrook

Ahh gawd, the fact someone has had to put that cheat sheet together of what not to flush means everything on that list has been found in the sewer system. I mean, who puts plasters and loo rolls down the toilet!

I don’t have a bathroom bin. I don’t think it’s weird or rank not to have one.

YY origamiunicorn, plus how would you even go about flushing a nappy?!

@stucknoue

NONE are flushable. None.

Check your water company website. Stop flushing them.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Why can't you use tinned cat food? It's cheaper and the tins are recyclable.

Sanitary disposal bag (paper) into bathroom bin (lidded). Bin is emptied as necessary (never noticed any smells).

I wouldn’t put them in my kitchen bin as that is rarely emptied as we have so little non recyclable waste.