While on vacation at a rental home a few weeks back there was a sign beside all the toliets.."do not flush tampons we are on a septic system". I then asked her this question, "they mean just the applicator right?" this sign started a discussion between my sister and I about this topic and we were shocked with each others responses.
While i have been flushing tampons (not the applicators, just the cotton) down the toliets since i started menstration, my sister has not. No one ever told me otherwise.

She told me you are not suppose to do this because it will clog the toliets. I was sooo shocked to hear that she never flushes them. She just wraps the cotton and discards in the garbage. Me on the other hand finds this absolutely disgusting and I would never consider to do this unless of course we had a septic system and it was forbidden. While on vacation i had to wrap the used cotton and throw them in the garbage but i found this sooooo gross.

So i figured CC is full of ladies that use tampons, thus i would ask what you do with your tampons.

Do you flush the cotton or wrap them up and discard????
Sorry, I know this may be gross to some, but i had to ask. I'm still convinced my way is the right way.lol

I'm with you on this one, it get's flushed! I can't imagine anyone wanting to handle a used tampon enough to wrap it and put it in the bin! Ewwww!

I don't flush the cotton, but here's why, lol.

I was one of three females working in a help center, and there was one bathroom. I rarely used the bathroom during a shift, mostly because it was nasty from all the guys (we were all college students). I never had a shift long enough that would require me to use the restroom there.

But one day, the toilet was nastily clogged. BIG TIME! It was disgusting. After a plumber was called, it was determined that the clog was caused by someone flushing tampons down the toilet.

And while I knew for a fact that it wasn't me, it was not longer considered a gross bathroom because of the guys, but because "some girl" was flushing her tampons down the toilet.

Btw, don't flush contraceptives (not BC pills, but the other kind) as those can clog a toilet too. Don't make me tell you about an apartment I rented and the flushing problems I had there. *shakes her head*

I had never heard of not flushing tampons until my daughter's pediatrician told her not to flush them after she started her period. I think that's just gross and I told her to flush them anyway. I have never had a toilet or pipes get clogged due to that. I used to flush the cardboard applicators, but did find those caused clogs even though they're supposed to be flushable.

I can see that it would fill a septic system faster, but the same arguement could be used for toilet paper as well...

Definitely discard. How gross and embarrassing would it be to have the plumber call to unclog your doovey which is covered in your whatsit. Pblurgh!!!

Imagine them all bobbing up and down at the water treatment plant too. Someones gotta fish them out. I figure don't put them there in the first place.

So seriously some people can't handle what's inside them? You do all remember where babies come from right? Hey, they come from *there* too

It's called, wait for it............."Hand Washing".

Lucky y'all aren't living in the days when they had to use a bit of material and wash it by hand after each use.

heh, heh -
HAD to post it -
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=178151.0 ROFL

I rented a bedroom in someone's house when I was 18, and they had to have major plumbing work done because I was flushing tampons. I thought that's what you were supposed to do with them, that's what we had done in my parents' house. The repair bill was something like $5000, and I was a poor college student and couldn't help much with the bill, so they kicked me out. I never flushed another tampon.

When you live in an apartment, a lot of times there's a paragraph in the lease that says that you can't flush sanitary items, and that if the plumbing clogs and it's determined to have come from your unit, you'll be responsible for the repair bill. Once, in an apartment I had, the sewers backed up into the building and my bathtubs were full of sewage and used tampons...I knew they weren't mine because I didn't flush mine, so it was even grosser than you can imagine.

I keep a box of fold-top sandwich baggies in the bathroom drawer. I bag the used ones, tie a knot in the baggie, and throw it in the trash. The baggie keeps it from smelling or from getting the other trash in the wastebasket wet.

While we're talking about drain issues, did you know that you're not supposed to pour grease down the drain? Instead, pour it into a container, let it harden, and throw it in the trash. And if you do a lot of cakes at home, it's hard on your pipes unless you scrape your icing bowls with a spatula until they're just about clean before you wash them.

You could also use the scented bags they sell for diaper disposal...those aren't see-through like the sandwich bags, if you're bothered by things like that.

From what I understand, most of the problem comes when tree roots have grown through the pipes. It makes it narrower and the tampons don't break down into something that can ooze or flow past the narrow parts of the pipe.

When you think about it, disposing of a tampon in a bag isn't any grosser than picking up after the dog on a walk

I always flushed them when I used them, but I use a Diva Cup now. Much easier and more cost effective!

www.divacup.com

I have always discarded them in the garbage can. So many businesses have signs asking you to do so. Think about it this way, how does a tampon work? As it absorbs liquid it expands, thus keeping the fluid from flowing past the tampon. So when you flush the cotton, it absorbs more water and expands further, clogging the pipes.

I know I just posted, but the question made me curious. I went to the Tampax website, and this is what they have there...

"Can I flush the wrapper and tampon?


We recommend that the wrapper (and the applicator) be disposed of in the trash. But you can flush the tampon. For best results, flush the tampon separately from bath tissue. Frequent flushing is not recommended for septic systems."

So I guess they are flushable!

Ewwww! Flush, flush, flush!!! Never had any septic issues.

I've been a flusher since 1981 with no problems!

Okay my mom always trashes and I always flush! The instrustions say you can flush them....however we have a plumber friend who says it's a big no no! But I will not be doing anymore flushing because I am going to get this DIVACUP! I never knew there was such a thing but is seems so much easier!

I'm on a septic system and we had one growing up, so I grew up not flushing them. I just have some toliet paper ready to go and it really isn't an issue. Yeah periods are gross, but I don't see how it is any less gross just tossing it in the toliet either. Tampons to me are no more or no less gross than using a pad, well I take that back, I think a pad is more gross.

It's a habit for me now so anywhere I go, I usually throw them out rather than flush. Part of it has to do problems with possible clogs, the other issue is that they add up over time and I could see it leading to having to have your septic tank emptied sooner. I mean think about it. I've had my period more than half of my life. That is alot of tampons to have had to flush.

OH NO, we grew up on a septic tank, and you DO NOT flush on a septic tank. Absolutely not. When we first started using (and flushing because we didn't know better, and parents didn't realize we had to be told not to) the toilets backed up into the house one day (and other stuff besides water) and my poor dad had to take the top off of the line and what do you know, when they started pumping a septic tank full of used tampons (and everything else) regurgitated into the lawn. He was NOT a happy camper to have to clean up that mess. So we learned very fast not to flush them. (He said if it happened again it was our mess to clean up.) If you're on city water it's a different story I guess? But absolutely not on a septic tank!

I've always lived with a septic tank and I've always flushed. This thread is the first time I've heard anything about NOT flushing.

Divacup -- have heard of it, but isn't it messy as all heck to change or dump? Seems to me you'd be saving it all up for one gigantic nasty mess later. Obviously, I'm hoping only the people who can stand reading about this stuff will have been willing to open this thread.

I definitely flush them at my house and have never had problems (I flush the cotton, but trash the wrapper and applicator), but my mother-in-law tells me not to flush any of it at her house because of septic issues.

This DivaCup has me intrigued!! I see they're sold at WholeFoods. I think I'll pick one up next time I'm there!!

Here it is never flush!! Was taught that at a very early age. There was 5 of us girls at home and we were taught never to flush. Or we would have to handle the mess with the septic system!! Believe me you only have to see the septic back up once and you will never flush again.

I'm grossed out about washing and boiling the diva cup. But have started using the instead, which is disposable. Very comfortable, but still use a tampon when my flow is at its heaviest and i have to work (bathroom facilities being what they are). www.softcup.com for more info.

I'm a "been flushing for 30 years" gal. Anytime I see a sign about not flushing, I just assumed its because they had a suck water system and not a "regular" one like everyone else! Since I've been flushing for decades with no problem, then my assumption is "it's not the tampon ..... it's your water/sewer/septic system that isn't up to par".

I used to manage a warehouse in Nogales, AZ, which is right on the Mexico border. Most of our employees lived in Mexico where it's habit to not even flush toilet paper because of the poor septic/sewer systems. My on-site manager (a feisty redhead lady from Chicago!) chewed everyone out because she went to clean the bathroom and the smell was horrible from all of the guys putting their toilet paper in the trash can. She told them:

"This is the United States side of the border and we WILL flush our paper products down the toilet like they are suppose to be! I will NOT EVER clean a bathroom that looks like that again!"

My point to the long drawn out story is according to "some" plumber in the southern hemisphere, even toilet paper shouldn't be flushed.

But that depends on what toilet system you're talking about.

We have a septic tank with a leach bed and an aerator (sp?). The person who installed it said definitely don't flush them because the strings get caught on the aerator and break it. Since it's over $500 to replace it, it's definitely a toss in this casa.

I've always flushed. When we bought our first house we lived in it a few weeks before I got my period. So I flushed. And guess what? The dang thing clogged the toilet. So, the plumber shows up. He was older than dirt. When he got the toilet unclogged he said "well I'll be damned! Look what caused your clog! A rat! And he musta been in there for awhile since his head and feet are all decomposed!" AAAhhhhhhh, there he stood, holding the tampon by the string thinking it was a rat!!! I was mortified but at the same time glad that he didn't know what it really was!! Sorry, I know that was gross but I just had to post it!!