Where to put used period pads and tampons, city by city

Don’t flush them. Both national sources the Editor read say so. The Department of National Defence’s guide to menstrual health, written for Canadian Armed Forces members, puts it plainly: “No period products should be flushed down a toilet to dispose of them because this causes blockages and damage to septic systems.”

The Canadian Water and Wastewater Association says to flush only the “3Ps — pee, poop, and toilet paper”.

Everything else depends on where you live.

Two cities, two answers

Toronto’s Green Bin page lists “Sanitary products (pads, tampons)” among the items it accepts. The page does not say where wrappers or applicators go.

London, Ontario, lists “Baby wipes, diapers, sanitary products” under “Materials that Do Not Go into the Green Bin”. Its page does not mention wrappers or applicators either.

Both cities are in Ontario, and their rules are opposite. So one city’s rule tells you nothing about the next city’s. A green-bin rule says which bin an item goes in. It says nothing about the product itself.

How to check your own city

Many cities have a waste sorting tool on their website or an app. Toronto’s is the Waste Wizard; London points readers to the Recycle Coach app. You type an item, and it tells you which bin it goes in. Here is how to use one for period products.

• Find the tool. Search for your city’s name with “what goes where” or “waste sorting”.
• Try more than one word. Type “tampon”, then “period pad”, then “sanitary”. Toronto and London both use the phrase “sanitary products”, so the tool may know that word better than ours.
• Search the extras separately. Type “applicator” and “wrapper”. The answer for these may differ from the answer for the product.
• Note the page and the date. Cities change their rules, for example when they change their green-bin program.
• No tool, or no answer? Ask your city. Toronto’s page also points to 311. Other cities have their own service lines.

Whatever your city says about bins, the national sources above say the same thing about the toilet: don’t flush.

Wrappers and applicators

No city page the Editor read, as of 27 Sep 2026, says where wrappers or applicators go. Tampon applicators are made of plastic or cardboard, and some tampons have none. That is why the sorting tool is worth a second search. When a city gives us an answer, this table will show it.

No bin in sight

Not every washroom has a bin. In federally regulated workplaces, the employer must provide “a covered container for the disposal of menstrual products” in single-toilet rooms and in each stall of larger ones (SOR/2023-78).

For places where discarding is difficult, such as field exercises, the Department of National Defence’s guide says: “A sanitary pouch or sealable waterproof bag may be needed to carry used products until disposal containers are available.”

People in online forums describe their own habits: wrapping a used product in toilet paper, carrying a small bag, or keeping a small covered bin by the toilet at home. Some adults say they were taught to flush tampons and learned otherwise later.

Camping and the backcountry

Leave No Trace Canada’s principles include “Bringing back waste that was carried in”. Its page does not mention period products.

The Department of National Defence’s pouch line, above, was written for field settings like these. The same guide says that “Biodegradable period products … are also not appropriate to flush down a toilet or discard in a portable toilet.”

What this is not

This Column reports what two cities and two national sources say. It makes no claim about what happens to a product after it leaves your bin, and it does not compare product types on waste. It is not yet a full list of Canadian cities.