Ditch Disposables - Avoiding single-use items. Sustainable lifestyle challenge by Sofonie Dala - Angola. Day 6

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the sixth day of our environmental challenge!

It’s time to #DitchDisposables and refuse everyday products which cannot be reused! 

Swap single use items for reusable alternatives. If the current trend continues there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050!

Shifting consumer behavior away from disposable products to reusable ones

We mean, instead of using disposable pads and tampons that are discarded after just one use, consider using reusable products instead.

Femenine pads and tampons can harm the environment. What’s the alternative?

Over 50% of the world’s population menstruates, and yet conversations about feminine hygiene and the ecological impact of product choices woman make in the space, wasn’t spoken about. Menstruation can be an unpleasant, emotional and painful experience. That time of the month can also be costly — and wasteful.

Menstrual pads are made up of up to 90 per cent plastic and nearly all tampons contain some plastic. “Single-use plastic has a big footprint, both when it’s made and when you throw it away”.

“There’s a huge carbon footprint that goes into making these products, and then they get thrown on the ground, washed into rivers, eaten by fish.” Furthermore, when they become litter, they do immense harm. They take a long time to break down and in the meantime, they’re ugly, they choke fish, they block waterways.

Over 100 billion sanitary napkins, tampons and applicators are dumped into landfills every year. When wrapped in plastic bags, feminine hygiene waste can take centuries to biodegrade. The average woman uses over 11,000 tampons over her lifetime, leaving behind residue far beyond her lifespan. 

What are the Alternative Options for everybody?

Not flushing tampons and pads down the toilet is one thing that everyone can do immediately to help enact change. Educating parents about more sustainable period products is important, as it encourages both parent and child to seek reusable options.

Here are some other steps you could take to make your period more sustainable (and potentially healthier):

1) Choose reusable menstrual hygiene products like menstrual cups, period underwear and reusable sanitary napkins.

2) choose organic cotton if you can ― and support transparent brands.

3) Demand that corporations make plastic-free sanitary products.

4) Help make menstruation a bigger public policy priority.

The menstrual cup is one product that’s been gaining in popularity. Usually made of medical-grade silicone, menstrual cups are inserted into the vagina, where they collect blood during menstruation.

Interesting that menstrual cups, reusable pads and sponges are readily available but haven’t gained much traction so far.

“The reality is the products that are more environmentally friendly … are going to be more expensive.” It’s also possible that some people with physical disability are unable to “reach their cervix to insert a menstrual cup.”

There is an urgent need to innovate and find sustainable and yet practical solutions to feminine hygiene challenges. 

The problem with stigma is that it often denies women a vocabulary to deal with the issues around menstrual health and hygiene. Open dialogue is the first step in changing the way women deal with menstruation and can create awareness around the need make a switch.

Moreover, the manufacturing of disposable menstrual hygiene products (an almost $6 billion industry) generates a total carbon footprint of about 15 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. That’s the equivalent of burning about 35 million barrels of oil.

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By reshaping our needs and wants, we can collectively make the difference in reaching Sustainable Development Goal 12, to ensure responsible consumption and production.