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?

I cannot imagine how embarrassed your SIL felt, standing in the bathroom with a tampon she had just changed and realising there was nowhere to put it. And then having to walk past everybody to the bin in the kitchen with said used tampon in her hand. Really there needs to be a lined bin with a lid in the bathroom. I cannot imagine how you can put used San pro in an open bin for all to see. In case people did not know you were on. A bit of discretion will come in handy here

I do not have a bin in any of my 3 bathrooms and I have no intention of putting one in there.

If a guest seriously feels that embarrassed about carrying a tampon to a different bin, then she's going to at least wrap it in a bit of toilet roll isn't she!

I cannot imagine leaving an unwrapped tampon in anyone else's bin.
My eldest (autistic) regularly emptied bins on the floor when he was very young. It would have been truly revolting if he'd come across some use sanitary protection in the process.

I have always taken my own towels and tampons home with me. It would not occur to me to put them in someone else's bin any more than I would have left a dirty nappy in someone else's bin.
Since having kids I used washable towels before I got my mooncup, so always wrapped the used ones and put them back in my bag. It's really not that big a deal.

I can't believe so many people are willing to dump their sanitary rubbish on other people and expect everyone else to cater for them.

I can't believe so many people are willing to dump their sanitary rubbish on other people and expect everyone else to cater for them*

Erm, it's really not very different from snot. Are we suposed to take used tissues home too?

This is just a fabulous MN "questions you never dared ask" combined with "Shock! A person visited my house who had a bodily function!" thread. I am staggered people are so precious about "bodily waste in the house" and "having to empty a gross bin". And are so baffled as to why a visitor might not use the same disposal method as you or intuitively know whether to flush/bin/wrap etc.

We're humans, we produce this stuff, you included, it's hardly nuclear waste. Why not just make thoughtful provision for people visiting you not to have to walk around the house dangling a tampon asking which colour coded bin it goes in or should they take it home? As an example a relative visited over Christmas and just before she left she said it had been her TOM and she had used the downstairs loo bin so I knew to empty it. And she works in a hotel so is no stranger to dealing with other people's sanpro.

There's a good reason why workplace welfare regulations require a sanitary bin in all female toilets - it's the most hygienic way. Last time I worked on a just-set up temporary construction site, the first day I went to the site manager and pointed out that he had six females based on his site and he needed a proper sanitary bin in the ladies and a contract to get it emptied PDQ. Made sure he had half his crew in the office at the time so there was no getting out of it . Being so precious about it just contributes to menstrual shaming.

Prime - remove stick from butt.

I think women who have or had light periods don't really get it. My mum was a one lillet a day, no need at night type, so had no clue about heavy periods - so when I was a teenager had a go at me for flushing the loo in the night and waking her up, then the next night quizzing me why the bathroom looked like a murder scene - well you told me not to flush! I bet the concept of changing a tampon at any time other than when about to go out to the bin anyway, and the amount of potential mess just in getting to the kitchen, would have never occurred to her. And presumably not to the batshit housemistress at school who felt no-one should ever need the loo at night and should "just potty-train your periods"!

I have a bin with a carrier bag in next to both loos. Every few days, pull bag - if anything heavier than a cotton bud is in it, put bag in wheelie bin, otherwise leave it be.

Prime

Seriously, putting used sanpro in your handbag is much more disgusting than putting it into a receptacle designed for it which the vast majority of people have and which can be emptied without any contact with the contents. I am not going to put it in my bag. It would never occurred to me to do so. As your guest, in the absence of a bin in the bathroom I will be wrapping my sanpro up and discreetly putting it into your kitchen bin. I can't believe so many people are so weirdly bin hating, hung up on a perfectly normal bodily function and inhospitable to visitors.

I seem to have my period every time we visit my MIL and it drives me mad that she doesn't have a bathroom bin. I've had to surreptitiously put things in the kitchen bin but have let her know, as a hint.

Last time I felt so frustrated I just moved the bin that was in her bedroom into the bathroom and told her I needed it in there.

I think it's pretty inconsiderate not to have a bathroom bin. And periods aside, don't people need them? Used cotton buds, hair out of the shower etc?

See, thats why i dont think posters like prime and i are menstrual shaming or precious about bodily fluids, as some have said. We're just not that fazed by it. You get a (often waterproof, washable) bag and use that to store it in, then take home n wash.
This is more familiar territory - the 'eurgh how can you use washable nappies/sanpro' response. I was a bit baffled to be in the new territory of being accused of being too delicate.
I suppose I am just used to dealing with it myself. I find it hard to imagine expecting someone else to.
I have been thinking tho about when dd is older. Maybe I will get one of those bins for when she has friends over.

And I do not quite get the disgust in emptying bathroom bin with someone else's San pro in it? You pick up the end of the liner, then tie it shut. Surely any San pro would have been pre-wrapped anyway, either in tissue paper or towel wrap? Or is it just knowing that those "things" are there and they're somebody else's is the source of revolt? Making guests store used San pro in their room is odd if a polite term is to be employed, or better still make them go out in the cold to put the dreaded item in the wheely bin. If I understood Prime correctly, it was perfectly fine for the visitor to walk about someone's house with a used tampon if the latter was wrapped in tissue?

I need to know about the cotton buds tho. What are you all doing with them?? I've had a tub for 10 years and only used about 20.

Most other stuff is recycled eg plastic bottles, cardboard tube/packaging so goes straight to outside bin

I need to know about the cotton buds tho. What are you all doing with them?? I've had a tub for 10 years and only used about 20.

We get through loads. DS2 is a one-boy Marmite factory (has v dark earwax - Google says this is in range if normal). I got fed up of cleaning my kids ears, so showed them how to do it safely & they clean every few days. Sometie Marmite boy needs one for each ear.

Lol wish i hadnt asked now

(I thought it was bad for your ears to use cotton buds?)

Chunks of Marmite wax visible isn't great either.

I also use cotton buds soaked in nail varnish remover to tidy up round the edges when I cock up polishing my nails.

Its fine to use cotton buds in the visible part of the ear, just don't stick them down inside. If your ears are producing visible ear wax then cotton buds can be used to wipe it off.

Could always use nappy bags and a toilet bin!

I use a cotton bud everyday to clean in my ears as does DH. Also for tidying up nail polish like a PP. Oh and for cleaning inside the shower door seal.

Babies grow on the stuff that makes up menstrual blood, so, surely it's fine.

"
I have always taken my own towels and tampons home with me."

So if you stay with someone on a holiday abroad you put them in your suitcase home for the security people to see?

At least this is helping solve the mystery of the point of cotton wool buds. Most of mine were used in a school craft project, but theres 150 still to go. Mine say on the outside box not to use in ears though

So if you stay with someone on a holiday abroad you put them in your suitcase home for the security people to see?

Very good point. They could be considered hazardous biological material and your suitcase would be confiscated.
As someone who never yeah, honest carries biological material between labs, you should carry a letter describing the product and reassure the finder that it's not a public health hazard.

The great thing about washable san pro is you can wash it

"The great thing about washable san pro is you can wash it"

Even if you are staying with someone on a holiday abroad?

A much better way of tidying nail polish is to do it in the shower, it rubs off damp skin really easily.