At the time of writing this article, there are approximately 3,867,401,147 women populating the earth. The average woman menstruates for around 40 years in total. In these 40 years, it is estimated that each woman will have around 2400 days where she will have a bleed. As a woman, this bleed is something that we have to manage and in modern times the options we have to do this both comfortably and safely are abundant especially when you consider the lengths our ancestors went to in order to keep Aunt Flow at bay.
Before disposable pads and tampons were invented it was a common practice for women to use items such as rags, knitted pads, sheep’s wool, and even grass as a means of controlling their periods.
In 1921, women from all around the world had their prayers answered when the first commercial pad was invented, this then evolved and in 1933 Tampons came to the market. In fact, they have been so successful in becoming a staple in our households that in 2018 around 5.8 billion tampons were purchased in the US alone.
However as convenient as it is to pick up a tampon it is easy to forget or not acknowledge the environmental impact that our period choices are having.
As with other single-use plastics, there is a huge amount of waste associated with tampons, pads, and panty liners along with their packaging. Combined they generate more than 200,000 tons of waste per year.
This plastic waste will either end up in landfills or more likely in our oceans as many of these products are not recyclable due to sanitary reasons. Flushing these products down the toilet are detrimental to the oceans and pollute the marine environment.
Did you know that just 1 pack of sanitary pads contains the equivalent amount of plastic as 4 carrier bags and just 1 of these pads take around 500 years to break down!
And you may think that you are better off with tampons as they are so much smaller so cannot contain as much plastic, however, you are wrong. When you study a tampon, you can see just how much plastic they contain. Firstly, you have the plastic wrapper which you unravel to reveal the plastic applicator and plastic strings, the tampon itself even has a thin layer of plastic around the absorbent part.
All of this plastic has to end up somewhere.
It is estimated that 6 pieces of period waste for every 100m of the beach is collected on the UK coastline (Telegrah.co.uk) and this is just what is washed up. The remaining plastic is left floating around in the ocean and is a major threat to marine life. By eating just 1 piece of plastic a turtle has a 22% chance of dying.
As well as the plastic waste building up in our oceans and landfills, period waste also has an effect on Co2 emissions. A years’ worth of feminine hygiene products leaves a carbon footprint of 5.3kg CO2 equivalent.
This is something that we have the power to change, without going to the garden and picking grass to stuff into our underwear!
The first menstrual cups were used between 1845 and 1915 and were made of aluminum and hard rubber. Technology has since advanced and you can purchase a reusable silicone cup from most pharmacies at a very reasonable cost. Not only are these great for the environment they are also great for your wallet as you are not having to purchase sanitary products every month! I have been using a cup for the last year and have to say it is the best decision I have made in my “period” life! I can go about my day not worrying about when I will need to have a change or any leakage, this may be a bit too much detail but when it comes to this sort of stuff we as women need to know!
If a cup is not appealing to you there are other options out there. Take a page out of our ancestors’ books and invest in reusable pads or purchase a pair of washable period knickers. With advances, I washing technology these clean up as good as new and can be used for many years, not to mention how much more comfortable they are to wear than a single-use pad!
We have a duty as women to make this a priority. Ditch the single-use plastics to protect our planet and show love to our oceans. It is down to you to make this conscious decision as nobody else can do this for you, period.
