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?

How much of a problem is it to grab the bin liner out of a bathroom bin? You don't have to touch any "bodily waste". If you have people staying all you need to do is have a daily volume check whether it is empty or not and take it out if needs be. That will take less than a minute. I wouldn't dream of making someone go outside to dispose of a tampon.

I thought the sanpro bins in public loos were emptied by a specific company? Is it the regular cleaners job?

I don't know what a daily volume check is...autocorrect went a bit rogue on me!

"I really do wonder how some people live with their delicate sensibilities!"

I agree. There are some overly fastidious folk on here. How on earth do they manage to deal with the bodily fluids a baby regularly expels?

Its odd because i used washable nappies and use washable pads/mooncups so it isnt as such 'delicate sensibilities'. With both those though, you just sort it yourself eg zip bags, take home, wash. It seems rude to just leave sanpro for a friend to deal with. Why would you not just dispose of it (dirty nappy or sanpro) yourself in an outside bin? Equally, it just wouldnt occur to me to bother having a bin in the bathroom. I have to say though, i cant see the appeal of discovering a friends used sanpro in there so i dont think i'll be getting one any time soon

So what do you expect a friend to do with her used tampons in your house?

Put rubber gloves on when emptying the bins if you are so affronted by the contents. And why is a bin in each room a 'nightmare'?! Surely it's better to have a proper, lidded bathroom bin than have guests stash used tampons, etc in a carrier bag in their bedroom? Most carrier bags have small ventilation holes in them so aren't leak proof anyway. Menstruation is a normal part of being a woman, it shouldn't be treated as unclean and revolting.

I've just checked my box of Li Lets tampons and they definitely say they can be flushed. Which is what I've been doing at home forever, didn't know until joining MN that it's A Bad Thing to do

So the favoured option seems to be a bathroom bin with nappy sacks, for visitors? But surely the nappy sacks themselves are just more waste? (I'm happy to traipse to the kitchen bin with my well wrapped towels.)

I have to say I knew you couldn't flush towels but I was never told, by anyone, that you couldn't flush tampons.

I used to use Lillets and didn't know they shouldn't be flushed, but it is academic now as I am too old for that sort of thing anyway. I have a bathroom bin for DD.

Dd's lillets teen tampons say to "wrap securely and dispose of with household waste"

And the tampax box has a picture of a toilet crossed out and a picture of a bin with a tick at it

I don't want to go straight to the outside bin because:

a) it might be the middle of the night
b) I'd be worried about putting it in the recycling by mistake, most of us have several bins now and everyone's council seems to have a different system of bins.
c) I'd rather not walk through someone else's house with a bag of used sanpro in my hand then have to get my shoes from where I left them at the front door, work out where the bins are etc.

Did OP ever come back?!

I haven't used tampons in years (hate them) so it's possible the messaging on the box has changed somewhat.

Loos are for getting rid of urine, faeces, menstrual blood. It is embarrassing visiting somebody who expects their guests to carry one of the three out of the room assigned for it (loo) and outside the house.

I wouldn't go tramping off into the street in the middle of the night. Neither would they be going in my handbag or a plastic bag in my bedroom. Eeew. I'd wrap them up in loo roll and the wrappers and put them in the kitchen bin, and on the tiny number of times I have stayed in a household without a bathroom bin on my period (because most normal people have one) that's exactly what I have done.

Perhaps OP has gone out to buy a bathroom bin!

Seriously, people who don't allow used sanpro to be left in a bathroom bin are too fastidious for their own good. That's what bathroom bins are for.

I couldn't imagine not having a bathroom bin. How is it disgusting to change the bin? You only touch the liner, your hands don't go anywhere near the tampon. In my opinion you shouldn't invite guests round if you're not going to provide the basic facilities.

Op is a man, I remember him posting elsewhere. May well affect his view on the joys of Sanpro

My pils don't have a bathroom bin either. The first time I visited while on my period I panicked and didn't know what to do. I think I ended up wrapping it in toilet paper and hiding it in my handbag. Mil has probably gone through the menapause but I sometimes wonder what sil does.

Op is a man

Ahhhhhhh!
Poor thing. Having to witness a blood stained tampon.

I also have a question regarding wheelie bins. Aren't those to put rubbish already in bags? Do people use huge bags in wheelie bins?

He's a man?! Even more of a twat than

then

Ahhhhhh that explains it then. What do men need a bathroom bin for? Not much i guess!!

Also, sounds much more a man who cant see why someone doesnt want to dangle their tampon all the way to the outside bin..