Periods and the Planet

By Rose Ellis

Period Politics design by Perri Tomkiewicz originally from Harper’s Bazaar

Last week was Environmenstrual week, founded by Women’s Environmental Network (WEN). Environmenstrual stands for an amalgamation of words – environment and menstrual and it is a week dedicated to ending period poverty, the taboo around periods, and urging more sustainable period products. There are approximately 800 million people who menstruate in the world, every single day (World Bank, 2020). Yet here we are in 2020, in a global health pandemic and an environmental crisis. Periods don’t pause for pandemics. With covid-19 putting more people under financial strain, it means more people who menstruate are unable to access period products. Now more than ever we must end period poverty and end the menstrual shame that women feel. The disposable nature and content of mainstream period products are also contributing to environmental degradation, and this means ultimately our own. So, what can we do to help menstruators and our planet?

By now most of us know that plastic is a huge problem and with 90% of period products containing up to 90% plastic (WEN), they are polluting our ocean; menstrual products are the fifth most common item found on European beaches. Disposable period products, such as tampons and pads, are the most mainstream form of period protection. They either end up being incinerated, in landfill or are too often flushed down the loo, which is how they end up on beaches (Break Free From Plastic). In fact, 2 billion menstrual products are flushed down the loo in Britain, within just one year (WEN). The Marine Conservation Society found in the 2018 annual Great British Beach Clean where 494 beaches were cleaned and surveyed, that on average 580 tampon applicators and 863 period pads were found per beach. The average menstruator disposes of 200kg period products in their lifetime, with just a year’s worth leaving an equivalent carbon footprint of 5.3kg CO2 (Shreya, 2016).

Infographic from WEN

The cotton alternatives are better for the environment than mainstream plastic-ridden ones, and switching to organic cotton alternatives could save 72% energy and 91% of the water it takes to produce conventional cotton (Cool Cotton, 2015). Even switching to certified cotton products for just two periods could save 900 days worth of water for a person (WEN). Plastics are often not labelled and there are many hidden chemicals in conventional menstrual products (WEN). The fragrances in them are a cocktail of up to 3,000 chemicals (Scranton et al., 2013). They can also contain carcinogens, allergens and endocrine disrupting chemicals, which can interfere with the body’s hormones (IFRA, 2016).

Shockingly, 137,700 children in Europe every year miss school because of period poverty, simply because they cannot afford menstrual products. Bloody Good Period (BGP) is a U.K. charity organisation that aims to give period products to anyone that needs them. With 5% of girls not being able to afford the products they need, there is increased inequality in the education that children receive. BGP and Women for Refugee Women have found that period poverty also disproportionally affects asylum-seeking women. They are often forced to choose between period products or food and other basic needs. Three quarters of the women they interviewed struggled to obtain menstrual products for an extended length of time and out of those who didn’t most no longer had periods anymore or would obtain the products they needed from charities.

However, it is not purely the practical side of periods that women struggle with. WEN found that 58% of women have felt embarrassed for just being on their period. WEN advocates that periods are the ‘biggest tool to understanding and appreciating a woman’s sexual and reproductive health’. BGP aims to end the shame around bleeding and Instead of being shamed into hiding our period products, they encourage women to do the Walk of No Shame and be more open about their menstruation and using period products. Nepalese girls are sadly often treated as impure when menstruating. Water Aid, and NGO, gave girls from the Sindhuli district of south-east Nepal cameras to document what they were prohibited to do during this time. Some were not allowed to touch pickles or fruit, eat papaya, cut their toenails or even touch any males whilst on their period. Others were banned from school for their first menstruation and told not to cross a river due to superstition. A few of the girls even disclosed that they broke the rules that would supposedly bring them bad fortune and nothing happened, making them feel even more so that this stigma needs to be broken (Guardian, 2016).

Photo from Amnesty International Education to end the taboo of periods in Nepal

‘When the problems are man-made the solutions are feminist’ (WEN); there are several ways we can all help, whether you menstruate or not. One way is to volunteer and donate to charities that focus on ending period poverty and raising awareness around the shame of menstruation through education. But as we have seen, this is a struggle for both women and for the environment. Ending the taboo around periods will also encourage healthier period conversations and the use of reusable products. We can also move towards resuables, which include washable pads, reusable applicators, period pants and menstrual cups, which in the long run save menstruators money too.

The solution is here; we just need to take it. For our sake and the planet’s. Period.

Photo of a tampon applicator on the beach from Marine Conservation Society UK

Read more of Rose Ellis’s works here, https://eco-age.com/magazine/author/rose-ellis/ , or follow her journey on Instagram @RoseIEEllis

References

Admin. “Environmenstrual Week.” Break Free From Plastic, 28 Oct. 2020, www.breakfreefromplastic.org/environmenstrual-week/.

“Home Wen.” Wen, 19 Oct. 2020, www.wen.org.uk/.

“Home.” Bloody Good Period, www.bloodygoodperiod.com/.

“Home.” Women For Refugee Women, www.refugeewomen.co.uk/.

O'Neill, Erin. “Campaigning for Plastic-Free Periods.” Marine Conservation Society News, Aug. 2019, www.mcsuk.org/news/period-plastic.

“Periods Don't Stop for Pandemics – Neither Will Our Efforts to Bring Safe Menstrual Hygiene to Women and Girls.” World Bank, May 2020, www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/05/28/menstrual-hygiene-day-2020.

“Report: Unpacking the Fragrance Industry, Policy Failures & Public Health.” Women's Voices for the Earth, 22 July 2020, www.womensvoices.org/fragrance-ingredients/report-unpacking-the-fragrance-industry/.

Scranton, Alexandra. “Potential Health Effects of Toxic Chemicals in Feminine Care Products.” Chem Fatale, Nov. 2013, www.womensvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Chem-Fatale-Report.pdf.

Shreya. “The Ecological Impact of Feminine Hygiene Products.” Technology and Operations Management, 4 Nov. 2016, digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/the-ecological-impact-of-feminine-hygiene-products/.

“Teenage Girls Use Photography to Help End the Shame and Stigma around Periods in Nepal.” WaterAid UK, July 2018, www.wateraid.org/uk/media/teenage-girls-use-photography-to-help-end-the-shame-and-stigma-around-periods-in-nepal.

“'When I Have My Period I'm Not Allowed to ... ': Girls in Nepal Share Their Photo Diaries – in Pictures.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 May 2016, www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2016/may/28/menstrual-hygiene-day-girls-nepal-when-i-have-my-period-im-not-allowed-to-photo-diaries-in-pictures.