When it comes to period care, one question that often comes up is whether or not tampons can be flushed down the toilet.
In the moment, it might seem easier to flush a tampon rather than deal with disposal in one of those overflowing metal bins (that is if said bathroom even has a proper disposal bin available). However, this short-term convenience can lead to long-term problems for bathroom plumbing and the environment.
Let’s dive into why flushing tampons is NOT the way to go and explore some better disposal methods.
Can You Flush Tampons Down the Toilet?
The short answer is no, definitely not! Tampons, pads or wrappers should never be flushed down the toilet for a number of reasons, mainly because doing so can cause significant plumbing and environmental issues.
The Bathroom Plumbing Problem
Tampons are designed to absorb liquid and expand. Unlike toilet paper, which breaks down quickly in water, tampons remain intact, posing a serious risk to plumbing systems.
Flushing tampons can cause blockages in your pipes and lead to costly repairs. In some cases, these blockages can occur further down the line in municipal sewage systems, causing even bigger problems.
Improper Tampon Disposal + It’s Environmental Impact
Even if your tampon makes it through your plumbing without causing a blockage, it still poses a threat to the environment. Tampons that reach sewage treatment plants may not be fully filtered out and can end up in rivers, oceans and other bodies of water.
These items contribute to water pollution and pose a danger to marine life, which can ingest the tampon fibers or become entangled in them. In fact, plastic applicator tampons are one of the most commonly found items in the ocean and on beaches.
Most tampons contain synthetic materials like rayon or plastic, which do not biodegrade easily. This means that tampons flushed into the ocean can remain there for decades, adding to the growing problem of plastic pollution in our waters.
How to Properly Dispose of a Used Tampon
We’re all too familiar with the metal disposal bins in public bathroom stalls. From both a customer and janitorial perspective, the unsanitary current disposal methods in public restrooms can be truly, well, horrifying.
Inadequate disposal infrastructure in restrooms often means no designated bins for sanitary products. As a result, used tampons and pads end up in the regular trash, exposed to the open air. If bathrooms do grace us with the presence of a bin, it typically has a swinging door with overflowing used tampons and pads that you have to touch.
Ah, no wonder so many menstruators flush their used tampons down the toilet… In fact, 30% of menstruators would rather flush their pads and tampons than come into contact with an unsanitary, often overflowing metal waste bin.
Solving the Disposal Dilemma
I’m here to tell you that there are better menstrual waste disposal options ⸺ and menstruators deserve better.
At Aunt Flow, we’re on a mission to solve the disposal dilemma, one stall at a time. That’s why we’ve recently introduced our NEW menstrual hygiene disposal system! It allows for easy and safe disposal of all period products for an improved bathroom experience.
Our disposal system includes the following products:
With Aunt Flow’s disposal system, you can officially say goodbye to those nasty metal bins overflowing with strangers’ used period products (aka bio-hazardous waste) or the dreaded flushed products.
