If you don't flush your tampons down the loo, how do you dispose of them?

[DumbledoresGirl]

OK right away, I know I am in ethical living and you are all going to shout MOONCUPS!!! at me, but I am not going down that route, ok?

So, this is the problem: I have read a lot recently about how we should not flush tampons down the loo. Also, we have seriously dodgy drains and dh has often had to poke around at them with a stick and once fished out a whole load of tampons that has got tangled together in our drains so I know they are a problem. But I am quite a green person and want to do what is right ethically anyway.

So, I have started tring not to flush my tampons down the loo (sometimes they go that way because it is an automatic reaction) but I am not really sure how to dispose of them discreetly. Towels always get wrapped up in the next towels' plastic wrapper, but what do you do with tampons? I have been wrapping them in a bit of loo paper. Are there any other ways of disposing of them discreetly? And what bin do you use for the purpose?

oggsfrog, is there any other things you regularly throw on the woodburner? (logs aside!) I am so excited about getting ours (and especially at the thought of not paying an energy company for our heating and hot water! - we have a large garden with far too many trees so we are assured of free wood for a few years at least) and it would be fantastic to know what else I could safely throw on the stove and save going on a landfill site.

I confess I'm a flusher . This thread has made me realise this cannee go on. Have no idea what a mooncup is, but I can sort imagine. Pray tell - how do you deal with getting it out when in a public loo? Or worse still, at work? I mean, sorry to be graphic, but I don't want to be washing my bloody hands in my work loo! Or is it not like this .

I have a 1 year old DS who is always in my bathroom bin (yuck), so this would seem a better solution to me than wrapping tampons - and presumably cheaper too?

Sorry Dumble - slightly crashing your thread.

And also using altar ego out of embarassment at lack of eco credentials.

No worries, go ahead. I have sat through too many mooncup thread to want to join in, but I am happy for you to be converted!

But seriously - the fishing out?

Josh - I'm in the same situation as you someone explain please

Dumble, over the years all sort of things have been disposed of in the burner .

I throw bones in there (after they've been boiled for stock), newspapers (some goes in compost), magazines, orange/juice cartons, empty boxes, wrappers, rags (old t-shirts etc that have been used for cleaning cloths and are knackered). If I've been frying stuff I soak up the old fat with kitchen towel (I know, but it is useful sometimes) and then burn them.

I don't overload the fire, just chuck stuff in as and when. It does mean that the ash will not always be pure wood ash, but we still mix it with compost and add it to the garden.

Seeline - if we don't get any joy here, I'm gonna start a "tell us all about a mooncup thread...".

In fact, I'm gonna start one. Come on over...

Loo roll, bin. Stop the plastic bag madness!

Kind of want to try a mooncup, but being perimenopausal think I might not get my moneyswoorth [scrooge].

I'm with you Josh - lead me to it!

There are loads of threads on Mooncup use where people ask these and similar questions.

Public loo - you don't have to clean it thoroughly with water every time you can just empty it and shove it back in. You might on occasion have to wash blood off your hands. You can be discrete. I didn't have any problems in the unisex loo at work.

Those are slight hassles but the mooncup is great for many reasons. Not just the environmental issue. You will never have to buy any towels or tampons ever again. NEVER. you won't run out. one mooncup goes on and on and on.

So it's cheap. In the long run, very cheap. And very convenient.

here

um that's discreet obviously

am shameless about bodily functions but ashamed of spelling mistake.

I just put them in the bin, though I tend not to wear them much - I use towels and also put them in the bin.

oggsfrog, do none of those things compromise the ability to clean your flue? We have open fires already and cheerfully mix wood and coal on them but my parents (old hands at open fires and woddburners) told me that I should not burn both types of fuel on an open fire as there is something about the mix of deposits it leaves in the chimney making it hard to clean (will check with sweep when he comes this weekend).

I know our woodburner can (needs to, in fact) take both coal and woods or all kinds, but can you confirm that other things eg juice containers which I am sure have a bit of plastic in them, are safe to burn in terms of potential damage to flue?

We put all sorts in our woodburner. In fact dh uses cereal packets, juice boxes etc as a kind of kindling to get the fire going in the first place. I don't think the bit of plastic makes a huge deal of difference.
I always throw in the dirty cloth that I've cleaned the glass door with.
Have never found a problem with the chimney. Dh sweeps ours with some rods, and I stick my arm up every so often and scrape the crusty bits off that I can reach.

I tend to forget that most people live in houses and have long chimneys - there probably is some risk of the junk I burn contributing to the clogging up of long flue. I would think that you would be safe with tampons though.

We live in caravan/mobile home and the flue on the woodburner is a very wide one and is only about 6'-7' long.

We also have a coal burner which heats our water and we only burn anthracite on that one.

Get small lidded bin in bathroom, wrap tampon/towel/maternity pad in a bit of loo roll, remember to empty bin at end of period. may try mooncup once body calms down after birth,

don't think any burning is allowed in london - our chimney is about to be used for plumbing anyway.

Do most people really not flush their tampons? What about when you are at friend's houses?

I'm a flusher and no way am I changing that. Periods are bad enough without having to tote my bloody prize through the house to dispose of.

I wrap them in loo paper and bin them. I just make sure I empty the bath room bin more often when I have my period.

I use a mooncup.

'Do most people really not flush their tampons? What about when you are at friend's houses?'

Please DON'T do this at a friend's house.

A lot of people's toilets/systems cannot handle them at all and they may be stuck with a clogged toilet and a big plumber's call out fee because of it.

People put them down the toilet? Sounds like a plumbing bill waiting to happen!

I just wrap mine in a few sheets of loo roll and chuck in the bathroom bin.

See what no one has told me yet about mooncups is - can they cope with really heavy flow? 'Cause I suspect not, which is what is holding me back.

can also use the Mirena coil to stop periods or a high dose combined pill will make them so light you don't need much protection.

Depo injection makes them go away, too.