"I will place a small bin in my bathroom" ?!

Comments

Hey Lindis. The idea behind it is so that you can throw rubbish into the bin which may reduce the number of times the toilet is flushed and reduce the amount of rubbish going into the sewerage system.

Submitted by Sarah on 23 January 2008 16:02:03

Aha! I thought there must be a logical explanation :)

I suppose this ties in with the question of what you choose to flush down the toilet and what you should dispose of elsewhere.

**WARNING - Ladies and gentlemen of a sensitive disposition should stop reading now. Real men and women may continue to read**

We all know that tampons and sanitary pads should not be flushed (there are signs in all public toilets reminding us of this fact), but sending them to landfill also doesn't seem like a very sustainable solution. So what's the answer... and please don't tell me I should compost them!

I already use Moontime cloth pads whenever possible, then soak them in Ecostore oxy wash and hang them out in the sunshine to dry. But I still go through a box of (expensive) tampons every month. What else can I do to reduce my tampon use and dispose of them sustainably?

Submitted by Lindis on 23 January 2008 16:17:59

By the way, here's a link to the Moontime web site for anyone unfamiliar with their products. I've been using them for a few years now and thoroughly recommend them. http://www.moontime.co.nz/

Submitted by Lindis on 23 January 2008 16:20:50

Hi Lindis
If you want to stop using tampons you could get a menstural cup. They're a small latex or silicone cup that you insert and it collects the blood, then you just remove, empty, wash and reuse. They are a bit expensive but you only need to buy it once and it will pay for itself in about a year. They're also better than tampons because they effectively remove the risk of toxic shock syndrome and you don't have to change it as often.
Here are a couple of websites:

http://www.redrag.co.nz/about/mooncup

http://www.naturalbasics.co.nz/products.html

Submitted by pea308 on 23 January 2008 20:28:02

Thanks pea308. What a wonderful product! I think this might be the answer to my dilemma - using a menstrual cup and my moontime pads I hope I'll never have to use disposable products again! I will order one immediately. :)

Submitted by Lindis on 24 January 2008 10:17:56