Huh. Not so much contributing to the debate as giving an alternative view: in New Zealand, every women’s public bathroom everywhere is outfitted with Feminine Hygiene Product Disposal Bins, carefully designed plastic bins specifically designed for tampons and pads. They have special lids that don’t directly expose the content of the bin to air, even when you’re throwing your tampon away, and are filled with some kind of special chemical that disintegrates and deoderises the contents. The bins are set out, emptied and maintained by a separate company that deals specifically with the bins. Everyone uses them and nobody flushes anything except bodily waste and toilet paper. I have never used a public bathroom anywhere in NZ that didn’t have a tampon/pad disposal bin.
This has made me confused about this thread. Are these bins not used in America? Or did I miss the part of the thread where they were mentioned?
At home, I wrap them in lots of tissue and put them in a plastic-bag lined rubbish bin. Every house I’ve ever visited had at least a small bin in the bathroom/toilet room for this purpose.
Here’s an idea: bring a ziploc bag with you. When the time comes to remove the old tampon, put your hand in the ziploc bag and then invert it once you grab hold of the old tampon. Toss the bag in the trash. Tada, no blood on your hands.
Didn’t mean it that way - heck, the toilet was attached to a bar in a neighborhood built around 960 AD - it’s not like I was expecting modern conveniences. That’s why I brought my own toilet paper with me.
I’m still wondering about these binless women’s public toilets that are claimed to exist here in the US. As I said, I don’t recall seeing them.
I believe I said earlier (though, perhaps, it was in the other thread) that the most common place I encounter this problem is at various points along the drive from where I live and Las Vegas (a drive I make every two weeks). It’s the 58 East to the 15, all the way into Nevada. While some of the official rest stops are actually very nice, many of the gas stations and fast food joints are less than equipped. Granted, I don’t stop at every place every time :D, but when I think of this problem, that drive is definitely where I encounter it more frequently than not.
Tampons aren’t flushable? Really? I never knew. I thought those signs in public bathrooms referred to pads and plastic applicators.
And I’m not aware of causing any plumbing incidents in the past 32 years. At least, not as a result of my Monthly Joyride (currently coming to a close - funny that I’m just now getting the memo on this issue).
OTOH, though, I’ve clogged my Mom’s toilet several times. She has that extra fluffy, extra-puffy, love-your-tushy toilet paper with ridges and ruffles and goose-down feathers. Whoa nelly!
No. The majority of them are just a simple metal or plastic container with a hinged lid–either the hinged-at-one-side lift-up kind or the hinged-in-the-middle swinging kind. Or there’s no lid at all.