Hi Keellee81, You could try the financial argument and point out that unblocking the toilet will be a repeated cost that would be considerably more expensive than the provision of sanitary waste bins.

I have just checked the date of this thread and yes, it is from 2015. You have my sympathies dealing with this pathetic management, as this most definitely the saddest post on here for a while - in that this is even an issue Good luck

I'm assuming we are talking about commercial sanitary bins provided by companies such as PHS, hence the discussion about cost. I'm not sure there is an absolute legal requirement to provide such sanitary bins. If the quantities are small they can go into the normal waste stream. Busy public facilities may require separate bins. This is what the government say: "Human hygiene or sanpro waste can sometimes be produced in large quantities in places such as schools, nurseries and motorway service areas. Although such wastes from these sources may be non-hazardous, in quantity they can be offensive and cause handling problems. In these cases, where the premises generate more than one standard bag or container of human hygiene waste over the usual collection interval, it is considered appropriate to package it separately from other waste streams." https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-waste The ACOP to the Workplace Regs: "In toilets used by women, suitable means for the disposal of sanitary dressings should also be provided." ACOPs aren't the law, what is suitable for one workplace may not be for another. Kellee, in your stores there may be other ways of achieving this - a small pedal bin with a plastic bag may be sufficient if there is only one female employee. And no, I'm not a Neanderthal but I think it is important our advice has a legal basis - it should be made clear to our clients what is legally required and what is best practice - it's up to them to decide based on cost, benefit, reputation etc Ian

Where there are only one or two females present the argument could be "where do they put them when at home"? Otherwise where females are present in numbers then the bins must be required. Is there a toilet available for use by disabled people, employees and/or customers/visitors? There will be a need for one in there as well.

This is quite mind-boggling really! I checked the welfar regs and no, it's not in there. There is something about suitable receptacles for waste, so you could maybe use that... John

Suitable means of disposal...... May be better to approach "management" differently. - What do they use at head office? - Who's going to empty the containers if your not using a 3rd party? - What would the customers think? - What does a Union think? If you let me know who the company is - I'll make sure that I avoid visiting any until they work out what century we are in.

ACoP may not be law but it's almost as good as - if you don't follow it than you are guilty unless you prove what you were doing instead is just as good. I agree a pedal bin and bags would suffice, as long as they are emptied regularly. Just as we do at home!

It also occurs to me that a more relevant comparison than what people do at home is what happens in hotels - where bags are provided in the bathrooms to put into the pedal bin which is then emptied daily by the room cleaners.

Consider if this is a requirement for safe disposal of hazardous waste - blood-born pathogens? What would they do if they had to dispose of first aid waste?

In many cases it does go into the normal waste streams: The toilet.

The OP describes the situation as 'retail stores' so I am wondering if we are talking about employees, the public or both. One has rights the other does not - but irrespective you have a waste management issue here and potential breach of waste law or contract with your waste disposal contractor as here is a duty wrt the trade waste classification that is carried from the premises - check your contract.