# Dear Ladies: Dirty tampons DO NOT belong in the toilet **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905 "2009-05-28T04:31:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/61 "2009-05-28T23:33:19Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > I second this - without being too graphic, if you have a heavy flow, and wrap it up, it will end up being a toilet paper cylinder of about 4" through in order to make sure it doesn’t leak through to become a shiny red ball. The bits that come out are stuck to it, so the wrapping can rarely be done with one hand, unless you want to fling stuff everywhere. Really? I have a very heavy flow and I’ve never had any trouble wrapping mine up. I guess it’s kind of gross, but people manage with pads, so what’s the big deal with tampons? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/62 "2009-05-28T23:58:12Z")
I wonder if some sort of deodorized trash can/biodegradable plastic bag dispenser combo would work best for women’s washrooms. Would be nice if there were some free tampons and pads in there, too. Someone should get on this. Possibly the Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/63 "2009-05-29T00:15:10Z")
The OP ain’t coming back, is he. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/64 "2009-05-29T01:43:04Z")
> [@tygre](#): > > I have had a plumber with 20 years experience tell me to NEVER EVER flush tampons, and that they were the #1 cause of blockages. I grew up in a house with a septic tank and we could only flush waste and TP. Even though we are on city sewer now, I still don’t flush ‘em and am kinda baffled at people who do. Plumbers are freakin’ expensive. Yeah, but I’ve lived in ::counts on fingers:: six cities and countless apartments and houses, new and old. (And many office buildings.) I’ve only had a plumbing problem once. And if my landlord had told me not to flush them I wouldn’t have. (This was in a house built in the 20’s.) (As it was he got really pissed at me, and I got pissed at him. I have never ever heard - up until that point - that you shouldn’t flush them. And this was in over a decade of using them.) I have resumed happily flushing them in the many, many years since, and nope, no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/65 "2009-05-29T02:03:51Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > If you had some stranger take a bloody bandage from his arm, absolutely soaked in blood and with bits of tissue hanging off of it, would it be okay for you if they just tossed it in the nearest trash bin with a little TP around it? Not me… Well since I don’t make a habit of rooting around in bathroom trash cans, yeah, I wouldn’t have any problem with that. Women have been using pads for decades and those have to go in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/66 "2009-05-29T02:10:22Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Well since I don’t make a habit of rooting around in bathroom trash cans, yeah, I wouldn’t have any problem with that. Women have been using pads for decades and those have to go in the trash. Plus they’re tiny. I’ve never had a problem with it. I try to change the garbage a lot more often when I’m menstruating, but other than that… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/67 "2009-05-29T03:11:22Z")
> [@Myrrajh](#): > > How you get a shopping cart into a sewage line, though, is a mystery to me. Either: [ul] [li]You dump the shopping cart down a street access hole into the sewer, [/li]or [li]A homeless person is living in one of the tunnels/caves connected to the sewer system, with their shopping cart, and it is swept away when the flow rises in the tunnel[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/68 "2009-05-29T04:06:01Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Really? I have a very heavy flow and I’ve never had any trouble wrapping mine up. I guess it’s kind of gross, but people manage with pads, so what’s the big deal with tampons? Wrapping up a pad is easier than wrapping up a tampon, because you can just fold the pad in half and handle it from the glue side only and not get all bloody. Wrapping up a tampon, IME, involves a little more dexterity if you want to keep your fingers clean/avoid clots from falling off, etc. Not everyone wants to deal with that, because it’s somewhat squicky. I have a related issue; you know those bins with paper bags in them that are supposed to be used for “feminine waste”? There doesn’t appear to be a standard on what to do with those, and it drives me crazy. From what I’ve seen, 1. Everyone stuffs things into one bag until the magical bathroom fairies take it away, and then another bag is opened up 2. You’re supposed to used a single bag and dump it in the garbage outside the stall, but no one does this, so at best you get a bin full of individually used bags with additional stuff piled on top of them 3. People ignore all the bags and just drop pads, tampons and applicators/waste into the bin, resulting in disgusting bins and blood covered bags that are never used. Could someone please come up with a more logical, more universally understood system? Bags in a dispenser, bin beside it or something? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/69 "2009-05-29T04:29:53Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Could someone please come up with a more logical, more universally understood system? Bags in a dispenser, bin beside it or something? Thanks! I’m thinking of a toilet with a 2 hp chopper pump. Hell, for both men’s and women’s restrooms. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/70 "2009-05-29T04:44:16Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > I’m thinking of a toilet with a 2 hp chopper pump. Hell, for both men’s and women’s restrooms. Exactly. And I think that solution is already out there, at least, I’ve seen adds for something similar for basement toilets so the, um, outgoing stuff can be pumped down a much smaller pipe than a usual waste stack. Or some other solution along the mechanical/engineering line. Because the people in the OP’s situation are faced with a problem that can be solved by doing something once (by fixing the plumbing) or by convincing an unending stream of people to change their behavior to something less convenient to them. Any bets on which is more likely to succeed? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/71 "2009-05-29T05:08:03Z")
Another solution: use a menstrual cup!! No waste! Many of us have been proselytizing for menstrual cups here for years, and they really are leaps and bounds better than pads and tampons - and the tampon/toilet clog thing is just another good reason to use cups. Even during my heaviest flow, I only have to change it twice a day. I haven’t spent a dime on disposable menstrual products in years, and I haven’t contributed to any landfills or clogs! They’re comfortable, don’t leak, easy, clean and odor-free. I’m surprised that so many women are still using such antiquated things as pads and tampons. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/72 "2009-05-29T05:22:10Z")
> [@chique](#): > > The OP ain’t coming back, is he. I’m still here, just not sure where to chime back in. I wasn’t imagining this rant going to 2+ (probably 5+ by the end) pages. ---
**Author:** ![wolf-alice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@wolf-alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf-alice)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/73 "2009-05-29T08:04:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Even during my heaviest flow, I only have to change it twice a day. I haven’t spent a dime on disposable menstrual products in years, and I haven’t contributed to any landfills or clogs! They’re comfortable, don’t leak, easy, clean and odor-free. And if you hold one to your ear you can hear Tori Amos! … In all seriousness though, I am totally Team Menstrual Cup. Back in my tampon-slinging days I might have heeded a polite sign about not flushing, but only if you’d made your lavatories functional - paper, some fragrance other than eau di latrine, a locking door, a seat and a bin would all go some way to increasing my menstrual co-operation. I never would have considered that I were doing something considered obnoxious had it not been pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/74 "2009-05-29T10:37:37Z")
> [@wolf-alice](#): > > And if you hold one to your ear you can hear Tori Amos! Hee. Singularly funny. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/75 "2009-05-29T11:49:24Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > Another solution: use a menstrual cup!! No waste! Many of us have been proselytizing for menstrual cups here for years, and they really are leaps and bounds better than pads and tampons - and the tampon/toilet clog thing is just another good reason to use cups. > > Even during my heaviest flow, I only have to change it twice a day. I haven’t spent a dime on disposable menstrual products in years, and I haven’t contributed to any landfills or clogs! They’re comfortable, don’t leak, easy, clean and odor-free. I’m surprised that so many women are still using such antiquated things as pads and tampons. I tried these years ago. Like, maybe in the 70s when I saw the first ones. I Could. Not. Insert it properly. They’re kind of gigantic! ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/76 "2009-05-29T12:10:40Z")
What 's up with the “Fix the plumbing” chorus? What’s to fix before it overflows? A clog or tangled up chains and floats caused by foreign objects? Usually a mechanical failure is caused by junk in the works, clear the junk out and it starts flowing again. Another enemy of sewer systems is grease. That scum can harden and also gum up the plumbing works. How does a restaurant deal with grease and food scraps in the kitchen, do they also rinse it down the drain or dispose of it separately? ---
**Author:** ![abbeytxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@abbeytxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abbeytxs)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/77 "2009-05-29T12:58:22Z")
This is fascinating. I’ve been using tampons for almost 30 years and I never knew you could flush them. Guess I never read the box before. I grew up in a house with old plumbing and so was taught not to flush. I just assumed no one flushed them. Apparently I am quite talented though, since even on my heaviest, clottiest days I have manged to wrap the tampon up without slinging blood anywhere or getting any on my hands. Also, I have never had issues with the smell. I just empty my wastebasket twice a week on trash days and that seems to work. I agree with the majority of posters so far, put up a sign. It isn’t going to stop everyone from flushing them, but it might cut back the problem a little. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/78 "2009-05-29T13:47:19Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Wrapping up a tampon, IME, involves a little more dexterity if you want to keep your fingers clean/avoid clots from falling off, etc. That’s it. I am definitely off of lunch. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/79 "2009-05-29T13:59:24Z")
Why, were you planning on having blood pudding? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905/80 "2009-05-29T14:03:41Z")
No, chunky tomato soup. I think I’ll go with the cream of broccoli. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-ladies-dirty-tampons-do-not-belong-in-the-toilet/497905.md?page=5)