Difference of opinion re bathroom waste recycling. What's yours?

daisiegg

puddy wrote: »

i do, ive been told time and time again on this site not to, but i still do. im not putting stuff in a bag and then in the bin, it sound revolting to me. my hands get all bloody anyway so it would be everywhere. ive never blocked any drains and shred up towels on the very rare occasions i use them

cant remember the last time i read the outside of a tampax packet anyway

If you're shredding a towel aren't you touching it more than you would be if you wrapped it in something and put in a bin?

I must admit I've always flushed tampons; in fact, I just went and found a box of Lil Lets tampons and in the leaflet inside (god it's been years since I've read one of those!) it says you can flush the used tampon! I've never flushed towels though.

To return to the OP....we have just one bathroom bin in each bathroom and I must admit we probably don't recycle as much from the bathroom as we should. Larger bottles usually just get placed next to the bin until one of us takes them out to the recycling box but toilet roll insides and smaller bottles probably get emptied with the rubbish and put in the black bin. I've never thought about it much.

I couldn't contemplate not having a bathroom bin! What about things like used face wipes, cotton wool, cotton buds, empties that can't be recycled (e.g. toothpaste tubes), not to mention the obvious period related stuff! I can just imagine how that would go if we didn't have a bin in the main bathroom and OH's daughter was staying, she'd probably end up with used towels in her make-up bag or something, rather than walking through the house with them to the kitchen bin!

Brighton_belle

puddy wrote: »

ive never blocked any drains and shred up towels on the very rare occasions i use them

You can't know that you haven't contributed to a blockage further down the line, which is where most of them happen.
A small pedal bin in the bathroom solves the need to touch the bin.

pinkladyof66

my father lives on an end house and our manhole cover in our garden was always up and garden filled with mess yes i can assure you that it happened very regularly. my father being an ex plumber had all the rods and would rod the drain to clear it. He would be covered in mess - !!!! and it all and the drains would be filled with nappies yes nappies and also ladies sanitary wear. It wasnt ours as we didnt use nappies and never flushed sanitary wear down the drain. The garden would be at lest 1ft in mess. and the stench was terrible so yes as previous poster has said you wont know what damage it does as it usually gets stuck in the end house. of course when my dad was plunging the drain the neighbours would all come out and deny it. It doesnt happen so often now maybe because all the neighbours are elderly and wouldnt use nappies or sanitary wear now.

poet123

http://www.tampax.com/en-US/products/productDetail.aspx?ID=tampax-compak-pearl

Yes, apparently you can flush tampax as per their FAQ.

puddy

daisiegg wrote: »

If you're shredding a towel aren't you touching it more than you would be if you wrapped it in something and put in a bin?

!

yes, i was talking about tampons not towels really and its not the item that makes my hands messy its me!

Brighton_belle

poet123 wrote: »

http://www.tampax.com/en-US/products/productDetail.aspx?ID=tampax-compak-pearl

Yes, apparently you can flush tampax as per their FAQ.

Well, clearly you 'can', as in 'it is physically possible' but Tampax are naturally going to advertise their product as convenient and non squeamish to use as possible. They don't run the water and sewage companies and have to fund the consequences.
Personally I dont think it is right to and will continue to put them in my bin.

onlyroz

puddy wrote: »

i do, ive been told time and time again on this site not to, but i still do. im not putting stuff in a bag and then in the bin, it sound revolting to me. my hands get all bloody anyway so it would be everywhere. ive never blocked any drains and shred up towels on the very rare occasions i use them

I hope you're not one of my neighbours. We have a shared drain for the five properties in my terrace, which runs from the back gardens to the front underneath my house. About once a year it blocks and we end up with sewage on our patio - not a nice thing for our children to walk through as they enter the house from the back. The biggest culprits are baby wipes and sanitary products.

Wilma33

poet123 wrote: »

http://www.tampax.com/en-US/products/productDetail.aspx?ID=tampax-compak-pearl

Yes, apparently you can flush tampax as per their FAQ.

That's the american site and their sewer system isn't as victorian as ours.

The UK site says bin them:
http://www.tampax.co.uk/en-gb/products/tampax-compak-pearl.aspx

Wilma33

puddy wrote: »

i do, ive been told time and time again on this site not to, but i still do. im not putting stuff in a bag and then in the bin, it sound revolting to me. my hands get all bloody anyway so it would be everywhere. ive never blocked any drains and shred up towels on the very rare occasions i use them

How do you know? The blockage would normally be further down the road or even miles away. And if you caused a blockage in a sewer after using a public toliet then again you are very unlikely to find out about it.

lostinrates

I don't really understand why so eone would be taking the risk of flushing tampons, if even to you it poses no issues but it might for someone else. Its such an avoidable risk and might make someones job a little easier, or someone elses garden a better place to be!

Its so easy to bag on removal, i put wrapper/applicator of the next on in the bag too.