Guide to Zero Waste period products

• Do not throw away containers. If they are medium or small, you can use them to transport items while travelling. • You can decorate containers and use them for a different purpose.

• Buy sponges unpacked. • Replace disposable products with reusable and non-plastic ones.

Lea, Sophie, Sophia

A menstruating person uses between 5 and 15 000 period pads and tampons in their lifetime, and creates approximately 125 to 150 kg of waste. Period products might not be the first thing one thinks of when switching to a Zero Waste lifestyle. But considering the huge amounts of waste a menstruating human creates in a lifetime, this topic should not be neglected or taboo. When it is considered that every second human menstruates, it becomes evident that the impact on waste management is significant.

“Reusable” might sound unappealing when it comes to period products. But even hygiene-obsessed people don’t need to fear for their health, as they can gain more control over the sanitary quality of their products this way. Moreover, one’s health benefits from reusable, sustainable and organic solutions, as studies suggest that synthetic materials irritate and dry out the skin. From a long-term perspective, it is also cheaper to focus on reusable methods.

The website Period Nirana offers a period products waste calculator, telling you how much you can save in waste and money by switching to reusable period products. Switching to organic period products not only contributes to a Zero Waste lifestyle, but ultimately results in greater empowerment, as well as education. Choosing the period product that is best for you is a very personal process, and requires experimentation and practice. In the end, it is all about feeling comfortable and confident in your own skin, especially at those times when it

feels like the whole world is against you, and chocolate seems to be your best companion.

• The excessive plastic packaging of single-use products, as well as the polyethylene plastic in sanitary pads, contribute to the global plastic problem and are extremely harmful to the environment. • The non-organic cotton that is most commonly used is full of pesticides, and grown in monoculture. • Conventional products are composed of synthetic layers that can irritate the skin. • Toxic chemicals such as dioxin, chlorine and rayon involved in the manufacturing process are similarly good for neither the environment nor human bodies.

• Conventional tampons and pads are disposable items and are not biodegradable. • Due to the fact that half of the world’s population are menstruating people, the amount of waste created by period products is huge. • Tampons and sanitary pads are said to be the fifth-most common type of waste washed ashore on beaches. If not beaches, they end up in landfills, where the containing chemicals enter the groundwater and contribute massively to our global waste problem. Go on this link to read more about the problems of conventional period products: How tampons and pads became unsustainable and filled with plastic.