# To flush or not to flush... your tampons **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915 "2010-08-29T20:54:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/141 "2010-09-02T00:16:26Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Just for fun, I called the Santa Barbara Water Dept. The guy told me that they prefer that people avoid flushing them if at all possible because they don’t break down. Let’s get some more opinions. Everybody call your city. > . Why would I call when I have the internet. [The City of Dayton](http://water.cityofdayton.org/Water/tips.asp): Do not dump cooking grease and oils down sinks or toilets. This practice will cause house laterals and sanitary sewer mains to develop a build up and eventually cause a stoppage. Also, female sanitary products and disposable diapers should not be flushed. They should be securely wrapped and placed in a trash receptacle. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/142 "2010-09-02T00:51:20Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > Indiana, at the moment. > > > > I have, through most of my adult life, lived in buildings 80-120 years old. Including my present one, which is well-and-septic. Maybe it’s given me a bias towards NOT flushing stuff that isn’t shit or piss. But don’t come out to this neighborhood and simply assume the pipes are up to your tampons. > > But now that she has permission in her own district…and the tampons do say they are flushable…is it ok with you if she flushes them? She can do whatever the hell she wants as far as I am concerned but there is household plumbing between the toilet and the sewer that could very well not handle a tampon. As I said a while ago, until I had my plumbing redone earlier in the year, it would have very likely caused a backup at my house. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/143 "2010-09-02T00:55:31Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > You know what I just did? I called the [Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District](http://v3.mmsd.com/ContactUs.aspx). I was connected to a very nice man there named Bill Graffin (414-225-2077 is his direct dial, he tells me) who was kind enough to speak with me for a few minutes and answer my questions. I told him that I was having a debate with someone as to whether or not “flushable” tampons are actually flushable, or whether they will cause clogs or damage the system in some way. His response–and I quote–was that they are “not an issue.” **Not. An. Issue.** For the local systems, he said, maybe, and in the laterals, but \*our \*sewers are bigger and deeper and they cause no problems there. > > So I’m going to go \*right on ahead \*gleefully flushing my tampons at any location that doesn’t make the minimal amount of effort necessary to inform me if \*their \*toilets and/or connection to the main lines (laterals) can’t handle tampons. The local systems and laterals would be communities with pumping stations connecting Milwaukee and individual houses. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/144 "2010-09-02T01:03:38Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > > [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > > > Where the hell do you live that your life is a constant epic of overflowing sewage? > > Indiana, at the moment. > > I have, through most of my adult life, lived in buildings 80-120 years old. Including my present one, which is well-and-septic. Maybe it’s given me a bias towards NOT flushing stuff that isn’t shit or piss. But don’t come out to this neighborhood and simply assume the pipes are up to your tampons. Hey! Me too! Go old Indiana! Just for the record - my house was built in 1887-ish. My last apartment was built in 1900-ish. I’ve always flushed. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/145 "2010-09-02T01:36:31Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > But now that she has permission in her own district…and the tampons do say they are flushable…is it ok with you if she flushes them? As long as she’s not fucking up the pipes, yeah. I’m just sayin’ in a lot of places it WILL fuck up the plumbing and she won’t necessarily get notice on the fact. Kudos to Milwaukee that they’re that progressive, but everywhere I’ve lived I’ve been told don’t flush anything not bodily waste. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/146 "2010-09-02T01:39:12Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > Just for the record - my house was built in 1887-ish. My last apartment was built in 1900-ish. > > I’ve always flushed. Just for the record - like I’ve mentioned, I’m on well and septic, and do much of the maintenance around here. I’m paranoid about dumping stuff down the drain. Not just tampons - I examine every cleaner in the house to make sure it’s OK for our system. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/147 "2010-09-02T02:54:49Z")
King County Washington, home of Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, etc., says no tampons or Kleenex should be flushed. Tree roots invade pipes _all the time_. Until the pipes are completely compromised, you can get by for a long time without having to replace them. It’s not a trivial thing to do, and the roots will continue to grow back; it’s a continuous process. Ours cost us $6000 last weekend. You will not know if your tampon is causing a problem often because it takes awhile for the blockage to become complete. Liquid waste will still seep through and it can be days before the solids back up enough to become apparent in the home (particularly if the blockage is 20 or 30 feet out.) Knowing now what I do, I would never ever risk screwing up someone else’s system. Women who use Diva Cups have to deal with bathroom stall unpleasantness all the time. What’s the big deal with changing tampon habits? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/148 "2010-09-02T06:11:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Also, female sanitary products and disposable diapers should not be flushed. Call them and ask them specifically about tampons marketed as flushable. “Female sanitary products” could mean “pads, wrappers, and applicators, but we’re too lazy to enumerate all those things, so we’ll just use a catch-all phrase.” > [@needscoffee](#): > > Women who use Diva Cups have to deal with bathroom stall unpleasantness all the time. Dumping menstrual fluid out of a cup designed to contain it into a toilet and then wiping it out with a bit of TP is the same thing as pulling out a saturated tampon, having it drip and smear all over, wrapping it in a huge wad of TP, and hoping there’s somewhere convenient to throw it out? Oooooookay. I pitched my tampons that way for years before I learned they were flushable. Don’t tell me it’s not a huge pain in the ass compared to the 100% ease of pulling out a tampon and letting it drop straight into the bowl, because I know of what I speak. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/149 "2010-09-02T06:48:22Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > > [@Magiver](#): > > > > Also, female sanitary products and disposable diapers should not be flushed. > > Call them and ask them specifically about tampons marketed as flushable. “Female sanitary products” could mean “pads, wrappers, and applicators, but we’re too lazy to enumerate all those things, so we’ll just use a catch-all phrase.” > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > Women who use Diva Cups have to deal with bathroom stall unpleasantness all the time. > > Dumping menstrual fluid out of a cup designed to contain it into a toilet and then wiping it out with a bit of TP is the same thing as pulling out a saturated tampon, having it drip and smear all over, wrapping it in a huge wad of TP, and hoping there’s somewhere convenient to throw it out? Oooooookay. > > I pitched my tampons that way for years before I learned they were flushable. **Don’t tell me it’s not a huge pain in the ass compared to the 100% ease of pulling out a tampon and letting it drop straight into the bowl, because I know of what I speak.** (Bolding mine.) I didn’t. I implied the opposite. Try reading again. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/150 "2010-09-02T08:43:55Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > > [@Magiver](#): > > > > Also, female sanitary products and disposable diapers should not be flushed. > > Call them and ask them specifically about tampons marketed as flushable. “Female sanitary products” could mean “pads, wrappers, and applicators, but we’re too lazy to enumerate all those things, so we’ll just use a catch-all phrase.” > . They’re non-biodegradable interwoven fibers. If they were readily biodegradable you couldn’t use them. Here is yet [another municipality](http://www.kalcounty.com/eh/Onsite-Sewage.htm) explaining it to you: \*\* Avoid flushing sanitary napkins, tampons, disposable diapers, condoms, or other non-biodegradable products into your sewage system. \*\* I have a house full of products with marketing bullshit on the box. the laundry detergent doesn’t get grass stains out. The toothpaste doesn’t whiten my teeth. My car doesn’t get better mileage with the new and improved oil. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/151 "2010-09-02T14:18:43Z")
Magiver, there are tampon companies that are claiming that their product is biodegradable. Are you suggesting that we should assume that is a lie? If we assume such a bold-faced lie, then how can we trust any product that claims to be biodegradable. I’m asking these questions seriously. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/152 "2010-09-02T15:33:14Z")
marketing can be wordsmiths and weasels. what (in the case of tampons [wrapper, applicator, string, some of the absorber, your menses]) and when (in what decade or century) and how (is it degradable in the environment it would likely be left in) need to be quantified. biodegradable material (food, paper) has been pulled up intact after being buried for half a century in a landfill, in another situation it might be gone long before then. marketing and politicians are word weasels. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/153 "2010-09-02T15:33:31Z")
There are? Really? Who’s claming to be biodegradable? Haven’t seen that box yet … could toss one into the compost pile to check the claim, and report back to y’all in six or eight months. (No snark meant - I’m genuinely curious.) ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/154 "2010-09-02T15:43:06Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > There are? Really? Who’s claming to be biodegradable? Haven’t seen that box yet … could toss one into the compost pile to check the claim, and report back to y’all in six or eight months. > > (No snark meant - I’m genuinely curious.) Well, I just googled and found a bunch. [Here is the FAQ](http://www.natracare.com/products/feminine_faq_products.htm)for a company called Natracare that claims to be biodegradable. I’m just asking Magiver because I want to be sure we aren’t holding women up to some standards about their tampons that we aren’t holding every other consumer up to about anything else. If a woman says, “hey, I flush because the packaging is telling me it is ok to do so” I hope that woman isn’t expected to assume the packaging is lying and do a ton of research, unless everyone does that about all kinds of things that they take for granted based on the packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/155 "2010-09-02T16:15:59Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I didn’t. I implied the opposite. Try reading again. You asked “What’s the big deal with changing tampon habits?” I told you what the big deal is. > [@Magiver](#): > > They’re non-biodegradable interwoven fibers. If they were readily biodegradable you couldn’t use them. Please point to anywhere that \*I \*said they were biodegradeable. You didn’t quote me saying it because I never did. They probably are, eventually, in the right conditions (which, like most of our trash, they’ll probably never see), but I \*don’t \*think they break up in the pipes. I \*do \*\*\*know \*\*they eventually get filtered out, with the other debris, _by the part of the sewer system that is designed to do so_. > [@](#): > > Here is yet [another municipality](http://www.kalcounty.com/eh/Onsite-Sewage.htm) explaining it to you Good thing I don’t live there, eh? Good thing \*I \*called the \*MMSD \*and \*they \*told me it causes \*no \*damage to their systems and is \*not \*a problem. Maybe next you can try to convince me to cover myself to the ankles and wrists when I leave the house so I don’t get acid thrown at me. After all, if it happens somewhere else, it’s clearly relevant where I live, too! > [@](#): > > I have a house full of products with marketing bullshit on the box. the laundry detergent doesn’t get grass stains out. The toothpaste doesn’t whiten my teeth. My car doesn’t get better mileage with the new and improved oil. But if the laundry detergent dissolved your pipes, the toothpaste made your teeth fall out, and your car blew up from the oil, you bet your ass they wouldn’t be making those claims anymore (or even still be on the market). \*That \*would be the equivalent to “tampons are \*universally \*destructive when flushed.” ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/156 "2010-09-02T16:18:35Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Here is yet [another municipality](http://www.kalcounty.com/eh/Onsite-Sewage.htm) explaining it to you: > \*\* > Avoid flushing sanitary napkins, tampons, disposable diapers, condoms, or other non-biodegradable products into your sewage system. \*\* Oh, and I just re-read your “cite,” and noticed something odd about the phrasing–it said “sewage system.” Hrm, that’s odd, I thought. It’s like they’re talking about a septic tank, which is entirely different from when I’m talking about it being okay to flush tampons. So I checked your link. And you know what? **THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT SEPTIC TANKS.** So, thanks for posting a cite that proves absolutely \*nothing \*about what we’re actually debating here. \*\*No one in this thread \*\*has said that it’s okay to flush anything other than bodily wastes and TP into septic tanks. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/157 "2010-09-02T16:33:03Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Magiver, there are tampon companies that are claiming that their product is biodegradable. Are you suggesting that we should assume that is a lie? If we assume such a bold-faced lie, then how can we trust any product that claims to be biodegradable. > > I’m asking these questions seriously. My plastic clogs claim to be biodegradable. The term has a very broad meaning. Obviously, cotton fabric will biodegrade over enough time, as my scrap towels will testify to. But that’s not the same as dissolving in a plumbing system. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/158 "2010-09-02T16:44:32Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > biodegradable material (food, paper) has been pulled up intact after being buried for half a century in a landfill, in another situation it might be gone long before then. Wait. So now we can’t flush them OR throw them away? This is problematic for my leaky vagina, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/159 "2010-09-02T18:36:15Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Wait. So now we can’t flush them OR throw them away? This is problematic for my leaky vagina, sir. The only solution is to eat them. Then you can shit them out and no one will bitch about them going down the toilet. Solves any issues with anemia, too! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915/160 "2010-09-02T18:42:51Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > > > Wait. So now we can’t flush them OR throw them away? This is problematic for my leaky vagina, sir. > > The only solution is to eat them. Then you can shit them out and no one will bitch about them going down the toilet. Solves any issues with anemia, too! But then your poop’s going to be all cottony and clog the pipes. Stop being hateful toward plumbing, bitch! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-flush-or-not-to-flush-your-tampons/551915.md?page=9)