Loo bins - do you have them and what is the etiquette for visitors?

[cosmicdomestic]

We had SIL to stay over Xmas. She is always a polite house guest and generally tries to fit in with what we do. This time though she kept on hinting that we needed a bin in our downstairs loo (which is tiny) - we don't need one in our opinion.
Anyway, as if to make her point, when I went to put my Quality Street wrappers in the kitchen bin on NYE, I had horror moment when right there in the bin, on top, partially covered with one thin tissue was a (heavily) used tampon (bin is in the cupboard next to the dish washer - so it gets warm and we never put perishable waste in it - but the cupboard actually smelt of the offending article!!). It could only be SILs and I did not mention it
Even if we got a bin in the loo, is it polite to put used sanitary protection in it - surely she should flush or wrap in tissue and quietly put in our wheely bin?
What do other households do for female guests?

And used oil should be put in a container and put in the bin not put down the sink or flushed down the toilet

It even says on the side of every tampon and sanitary pad packet... let alone a quick Google to tell you why.

Def get a bin lined with a lid. Plus small sanitary bags. Then every is sealed and fine when you empty bin

You must have been walking around the world with eyes and ears closed the last 20 years tbh if you didn't know not to flush. It's been on news for years, in papers, on packaging, adverts etc

water.wuk1.emsystem.co.uk/home/resources-and-links/bagandbin

It's honestly never occurred to me to put a bin in our downstairs loo for guests. I am mortified now! I never, ever change sanpro when I am out of the house, I guess it's a combo of lighter periods and timing it subconsciously so I don't have to do it. Also I've switched to a Mooncup these days anyway.

It honestly never occurred to me until now to make any provision for guests. We don't have bins in any of our bathrooms; the bedroom bin is always close enough for our needs.

OP seems to have vanished!

SIL should've wrapped a bit better, but otherwise this situation is entirely of OPs doing. Or DH/P too, if he was also on the receiving end of the comments about needing a bin. Of course you need a bin in the bathroom, otherwise you're expecting guests to wander through your home with used sanitary products.

We have 4 loos in our house and all have a bin next to them, lined with an old carrier bag.
I would fully expect to empty bathroom bins as part of a 'guest departure routine' along with stripping beds etc
Bins in the downstairs loo and our bathrooms get emptied every week as part of the normal cleaning routine - it's just removing a carrier bag and putting it in the wheelie bin. What is the hassle, compared with making people traipse through the house with used sanpro hidden up a sleeve or pocket. Grim.

I don't provide nappy bags because I don't use them but we definitely have a bin.

It's a 2000s onwards thing not to flush them. Maybe earlier, too, though when you go back several decades I think it was fairly common practice to flush. It says not to on the packaging and has since I started, which is 10+ years ago (I was a late starter.)

I do remember my mum saying you could flush tampons. She's in her 50s.

Doesn't look like op will be back

I hate it when people don't have bathroom bins. It's not just sanpro - I generally create waste not suitable for flushing when I am staying overnight somewhere (wipes or cotton wool etc). I find it a bit baffling - do they just flush everything? What do you do with cottonbuds etc?

And here's an eye-opener on the ills of those "flushable" baby and personal hygiene wipes, too: www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/nyregion/the-wet-wipes-box-says-flush-but-the-new-york-city-sewer-system-says-dont.html?_r=0

Well I don't watch TV or listen to commercial radio, so that probably wouldn't help. Wouldn't it be far more effective for the water companies to stick a leaflet in every bill?

I've just raked an old packet of tampons out of the back of the bathroom cabinet. There's a very small (about 5mm square) graphic of a toilet with a cross through it - on the bottom of the packet.

Packet of Carefree panty liners - no graphic or note anywhere on the packet not to flush.

I don't really think it's a massive deal if you're not having overnight guests. But if you do have overnight guests then you should have a bin, or let them know the procedure if they are close enough for it not to be awkward.

I agree with Trills,
If you do not have a bin in your loo then you are making things unpleasant and embarrassing for visitors.
That is the etiquette.

I'd hate to stay at a house without a bathroom bin whilst I was menstruating.
When I stayed at PILs I took sanitary bags and emptied the bathroom bin before I left.

I can't believe you expect your guests to sidle out to the wheelie bin!

I think OP is an ignorant flusher like me, and has sidled off in shame

Well if I ever have periods again (hoping to just slide into menopause without coming off depo tbh) I'll consider myself told :)

We don't have a tv either, but have seen plenty of adverts and notices whilst walking around in general life for 20+ years. Adverts in shops/ billboards/ water companies/ etc. And yes on the actual packets as you confirmed
It's like baby wet wipes, you wouldn't flush those would you? You can tell without a label they won't disintegrate with a bit of water as already wet and in one piece

But would anybody really flush Carefree pantiliners, seriously?

She kept hinting as she had the need for one. Perhaps if it has been there she would have used it and at the end of her stay emptied it too.

What do you do with cottonbuds etc?

Oh oh I know the answer to this one! Just leave them to pile up on top of the washing machine! (We have our washing machine in our downstairs toilet.)

Yeah, I really need to get a dog-proof bin for that room, don't I?

I thought everyone had a bathroom bin! We have one, never have overnight guests and there's just me, dh and baby. Its open topped but lined and I put a small bin bag in too. The sanitary pads get rolled up in the next ones package or loo roll and put in the bin. I have to change overnight usually so its helpful to have the bin. Its currently being full of breast pads though.

Re not flushing tampons - i had no idea til i found out on mn that you shouldn't. But haven't used them since i had TSS 20yrs ago.

When i first started, pre always, you tore the used pad lengthwise and flushed. Boak.

I've had periods since the 1980s and don't remember ever flushing a tampon down the toilet. There are signs in every public toilet saying not to do it as it blocks the toilets, and I'd be mortified to block someone else's toilet with a used tampon.

I have pedal bins in the bathroom and the guest loo, they have a metal lid to keep smells in and the dog out. We have teenage girls visiting or staying (friends, exchange partners) and I know how awkward it is trying to conceal a toilet-paper-wrapped tampon in your hand or pocket and slip it unnoticed into a kitchen bin (let alone putting on your shoes and going out to the wheelie bin!).

TBF, I remember the instruction leaflets in the late 80s specifying how to tear a towel down the middle before flushing.

If we're thinking about the environment then it's probably best not to buy liners that are individually wrapped?

I knew not to flush sanitary products from when I started in the mid 1980s - we had the disposal bags hanging on the toilet walls above the bins in the school toilet cubicles (on the bags it said to put sanitary protection in the bags before putting them in the bin for the convenience of the "maids" :o )

See that sounds crazy to this 80s baby, fidel1ne! I also can't imagine that it's possible to tear a modern pad but I have never tried.