Sustainability x Period Poverty
When most of us think of menstruation, a variety of things can come to mind. Pain, perhaps, if one is on the unluckier end of the spectrum, or more mildly, inconvenience and discomfort. But whatever your associations with the topic, inevitably the last thing to come to mind is plastic. And yet, in light of the global status of plastic pollution, there are very good grounds for doing so. The average sanitary pad is 90% plastic, and the vast majority are single-use. Unknowingly, the hundreds of millions of people that menstruate around the world are contributing in huge amounts to the world’s plastic problem. According to Menstrual Health Alliance India, a single non-biodegradable sanitary pad could take 500 to 800 years to decompose. Menstrual products are now the 5th most common item on European sea shores, ahead even of plastic bags themselves. Now, in our pursuit to end period poverty, we’re definitely not recommending doing away with menstrual products. Nevertheless, there are many ways for people who menstruate to do so without harming the environment by using sustainable menstrual products.
The two most popular of said products are menstrual cups and reusable sanitary pads, and rightfully so. A menstrual cup is reusable for up to ten years, and it is estimated to create 0.4% of the plastic waste generated by single-use pads and 6% of that produced by tampons. Moreover, menstrual cups are exponentially more cost-effective--purchasing one menstrual cup lasts a menstruator the same amount of time as 2,600 single-use sanitary pads.
Cups, however, are insertable products, and therefore not for everyone. Enter reusable/washable sanitary pads. While traditional pads often consist of rayon and other non-biodegradable materials, reusable pads are typically made entirely of cotton. They, too, are long-lasting, and can be used for 12 to 24 months. Since they are familiar to women and lack the stigma associated with insertables in conservative communities, they are preferred by many.
In our projects, we choose to use sustainable menstrual products for two key reasons. First, cost-effectiveness and practicality. Purchasing enough sanitary pads to last an entire community of women and girls on their periods and then delivering said pads every single month simply isn’t practical for EPP (us), our local partner, or for the women themselves. And second, we value the environment. We’d much rather kill two birds with one stone in our work than contribute to a problem that will ultimately come back to hurt us all.