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For women, having our period is as natural a part of life as eating or breathing. So why has the monthly flow become a topic of such secrecy and dread? For many, menstruation is a disposable subject, and has been so since the invention of throw-away pads and tampons in the 1930s. Nowadays, the majority of women spend hard-earned cash to manage their moontime with these products. Though they may be convenient, we are finding more and more that disposable pads and tampons are putting our wallets, environment, and most importantly, our health at risk.
Every year a pre-menopausal woman spends around $60 on disposable pads or tampons. This may not sound like much, but it all adds up since the average woman experiences 35 years of fertility. Throughout those years, just one woman will pollute our landfills with 16,800 disposable pads and tampons! These little throwaways are not biodegradable and take 500 years to decompose, outliving the woman who used them by over 400 years.
While companies cash in on this $718 million industry, they are polluting millions of women without any obligation to disclose the products’ ingredients. Companies are not compelled to inform the public of the materials they are using because that would violate the corporation’s right to free speech, so the damages mount in silence.
The fact is, commodified feminine hygiene products are made almost exclusively of synthetic plastics. These particular plastics expose us to a number of toxic chemicals, including dioxin, a known carcinogen considered to be one of the world’s most toxic substances. Women who are exposed to these toxins regularly through the use of conventional pads and tampons put themselves at risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome, bladder and vaginal infections, deleterious bacterial growth, disrupted cell growth, and even miscarriage.
While some Europeans and Americans have come a long way in embracing women’s menstrual cycles, menstruation remains a touchy or outright unspeakable subject in many cultures around the world. In rural India, women who have traditionally relied on old scraps of cloth for their menstrual needs are being influenced by the highly unsustainable Western preference for disposables. In a country with nearly no waste management, these products are extremely detrimental to both human and environmental health and can pose serious risks to those who do not have access to adequate medical care.
Eco-Femme, a social enterprise in Tamil Nadu, India, is striving to connect women globally through the common experience of menstruation. The dedicated women of Eco-Femme strive to educate women worldwide while creating jobs for local women and girls. They offer an array of alternative menstrual products and encourage sustainable hygiene practices by donating one reusable, cotton pad to a woman in India for each cloth pad sold on the market. According to the organization, “If every woman of reproductive age in India started to use disposable sanitary napkins, it is estimated that waste from the staggering amount of 58,500 million pads would be generated each year!”
Eco-femme products are made to last a minimum of 5 years, and they usually last much longer. Lined with organic cotton flannel, the Day and Night Pads are impressively leak-proof and are as soft as underwear. They are easy to care for: simply toss them in the wash with your laundry or soak them in a bucket of cold water to remove stains and scrub them with biodegradable soap. Tip: The soaking wash water can be used to irrigate plants; menstrual blood has been recognized as a high nitrogen fertilizer for thousands of years. The blood-water can even be poured around vegetable gardens to keep away garden pests!
In order to pay less both environmentally and economically, and to help the world move into a new way of thinking about menstruation, women everywhere should consider making the exciting change to reusable pads, the compassionate and sustainable alternative to toxic disposables. The women of the world are stepping into a new era that is a celebration of sacred femininity. Join us in the movement to be kind to ourselves and our planet!
By: Christine La & Annie Zylstra