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?

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

Oh thank god someone else remembers! I feel somewhat vindicated...

Towels were altogether different back then though. A modern towel wouldn't tear and would probably float!

Tampons were definitely flushed when i started 1988. My mum would never buy Tampons or even discuss them so i bought my own and read the leaflet very carefully. Several times! The tubes were cardboard rather than plastic and the used Tampons was flushed.

I think the signs in a lot of public places were more due to volume of visitors and layout of pipes etc.

I remember tearing and flushing in the 80s too but after that found out you weren't supposed to do that so later on started binning them instead. Bodyform had a bumpy bit that was more absorbant in the correct area in those days too.

I wouldn't leave nappies in someone's inside bin either, even in a nappy sack, I just think it's a bit grim! And if you're staying somewhere, bagging your sanitary towels in a nappy sack and then taking them to the wheelie bin isn' too much trouble?! Blood smells, even bagged, as does baby poo, that's why it should go outside!

Or get a mooncup so much easier and no mess/ smell!

TBH I think tampons/towels should never have been flushed, but I think we care more about finding it on the beach now. Back then no-one gave a shit about where stuff went as long as they didn't have to deal with it.

I have heavy periods. If I didn't change while visiting friends, I would never be able to go out. Bins in toilets are an essential item.

I packed a carrier bag and disposal bags for a recent stay at relatives' knowing they have an open bin in their bathroom. I took the carrier bag out to their wheelie bin before we left. You need a bin in your bathroom, but make sure it also has a lid.

We weren't allowed to bin or flush ours - we had to stash them in lidded plastic buckets (which ended up stinking!) in our bedrooms and every so often my mother would take them out the back and burn them. Then we moved to a house with an open fire and we were trained to wait till the fire was lit and the sitting room was empty, and quickly try to burn the pile before anyone came in.

It would never have occurred to me to put one in someone else's bin!

It wasn't till I moved in with DH that I found out (from him - he has two sisters) that it wasn't some sort of terrible faux pas to use a bin.

Your poor SIL! Yes, you need a bathroom bin; of course you do.

Yes to a bin with a lid beside every loo. I don't have periods now (luffs my mirina) but I hated going to PiLs and having to "hide" used tampons until I could discretely put them in the wheelie bin. Especially the soaked middle of the night ones [boak]

Towels were altogether different back then though. A modern towel wouldn't tear and would probably float!

Of course. I was just saying flushing WAS recommended at one point. I was a bit late to the party when the 'rules' changed and I can see how some people might have missed the memo.

I think the signs in a lot of public places were more due to volume of visitors and layout of pipes etc.

I also remember hearing these types of explanations for the sanitary bins at school, malls, offices etc .

You don't flush used sanitary protection. If you didn't provide her with a bin, how else would she be expected to dispose of it?

I started in the early 80s and used towels at first (Kotex bricks sylphs) and the instructions specifically said not to flush them. My mum saved paper bags for me to use, from our shopping.

Oh my GOD

Of course you need a bin in your loo! Your poor SIL and other guests. You cant flush tampons OP

I have a nice cream bin with a lid, you can't expect anybody to go taking sanitary items outside!

I doubt she's making a point, she's probably embarrassed.

I remember in a pub I used to get taken to in the early 90s, there were signs on the doors of the loos about not disposing of sanitary protection down the toilet. It was definitely early 90s because I was old enough to read the words but not old enough to be entirely sure what they meant!

No one in this house has periods, but when granddaughters or visitors come, we put a small, lined bin in the corner of our (small) bathroom with a box of nappy sacks nearby.

The only items to be flushed are the Four Ps - pee, poo, paper and puke - have already started explaining this to our small grandson!

I hate realising there's no bin when I'm at someone's house and need to dispose of a tampon, it's awful!

Only once have I been actually asked to put san pro in the outside wheelie bin when staying with someone and that was an elderly relative who was very matter of fact about it all. The fact she wasn't embarrassed made it slightly easier to go traipsing off outside with tampon, however, still omg just get a bin.

pocketsaviour No you shouldn't be putting cooking oil down the toilet or the sink!

this article gives an example why

Never had a bin in a bathroom and never getting one. Most people put nappies straight outside and I'd assume the same of used sanitary protection because that's what I've always done.

I had a friend staying over Christmas, she asked if I had a bin, I said no, showed her were the supplies where and offered her a bath with some lovely smellies. She used a carrier bag as a bin in her room. We are still best friends. Leaving used products visible in the top of a bin in the kitchen is rank.

I grew up with four menstuating women and no one cared about bathroom bins. I keep feminine hygiene products and nappy sacks in the bathroom cabinets.

In the 70s you could flush nappies as they were pulped paper. Or at least my mother did.
You definitely couldn't do that now!

It could be argued that expecting your friend to put used sanpro in a carrier bag in her bedroom was rank.

We have bins in most rooms in our house - otherwise you are forever traipsing to the kitchen or bathroom or it's piling up somewhere until it gets moved. I really don't get how some pp on this thread go on having just a kitchen bin or having to take stuff outside to the bins there all the time.

To me it's a bit like have decent mirrors in bedrooms - then everyone can get ready, dry hair, put make up on, etc. without having to use just the bathroom mirror and clogging the bathroom up.

I didn't suggest that a makeshift carrier bag was used. The only bin indoors is in the kitchen. Neither of us were bothered by the solution. If friend was bothered, she would have said so.

I wouldn't leave used tampons or sanitary towels barely covered on top of someone's kitchen bin. I wouldn't leave dirty nappies in a kitchen bin. I wrap both up and throw them both away in the outside bin and then wash my hands.