It's Time to Rethink Menstrual Products
There's a problem emerging with disposable menstrual products
Disposable products have taken over our lives. They’re everywhere, they’re cheap, and they don’t leave a mess to deal with. Not for us, no.
They leave a mess for the Earth, for trash pickers, for the people growing up in the slums of Pakistan, for our rivers and the ground below us. And then, they leave a mess for us, though that comes some years down the line.
We have about 55 million menstruating women (age 15-55) living in Pakistan. If only 10% of them (with an urban population of 38%) use disposable menstrual products, let’s see what the number comes up to.
5.5 million women x 250 menstrual products per year = 1.375 billion waste menstrual products per year
Imagine 1,375,000,000 disposed pads. Those will be added to our landfills, rivers and streets by this time next year. And more the next year, and more and more as the years go on.
What Now?
It can be hard to face the problem that disposable pads and tampons pose, because we’re so used to using them. But despite how clean and safe they look, they’re made mostly of plastic, and will stay here for centuries.
We’ve come to the point where it’s time to make decisions, because there’s already too much plastic around. Unless we want ourselves, our descendants and everyone else that comes after us to live in a world of plastic waste, we have to play our part.
So, what do we do? There are a few places to start.
- Get organic pads/tampons that can decompose when you throw them away.
- Use menstrual cups that you can reuse (after washihg with soap and water) and that last for years.
Recircle Cup
We came out with Recircle Cup to help with this problem. Besides reducing your menstrual product waste by upto 99.9% (yes, 5 cups per life vs 11,000 pads), Recircle cup also allows you to go upto 12 hours without emptying your cup, allows you to swim and work out with your cup sealed inside, and is perfectly safe for use, made of unreactive medical grade silicone.
Still have doubts? Read our common concerns.
Figures
11,000 menstrual products per year: source
Calculate your own waste using this equation: pads used in a day x days you menstruate x 12 (months) x 40 (years you will menstruate)
e.g 6 x 5 x 12 x 40 = 12,000 pads per lifetime