No doubt, if you ask any girl, lady, woman, what one of the biggest struggles are for them because of their bodies, it’s their periods. Yet despite the massive biological occurrence that is experienced by half the population, speaking about menstruation and what it does to women’s internal and external body is still considered taboo. But this stigma isn’t just a modern cultural issue, it’s been part of history for centuries. During ancient and medieval eras, humans saw menstruation as a holy and mystical phenomenon. How were females bleeding without being injured? It was occasionally seen as a curse. But despite this, what’s interesting is, how did the women deal with it back then? Dr. Sara Read concluded that generally, aside from using rags to help soak the blood, many medieval European women simply bled into their clothes. Fast forward to modern day, rags have evolved into single-use pads, and tampons became available during the first half of the 20th century.
We use these menstrual products every month – approximately 20 tampons per cycle actually – but do you know what tampons and pads are made out of? What’s the supply chain of menstrual products like? Are tampons and pads sustainable products? Can they be more sustainable?
The two biggest environmental costs with tampons and pads are: the production process and disposal. The average women will use roughly over 11,000 tampons in her lifetime, and while doing so, approximately 20 billion pads, tampons, and applicators are being sent to North American landfills annually. Each of these disposable menstrual products take centuries to biodegrade, outliving the lifespan of a woman’s life. Additionally, the manufacturing process to extract raw materials and put them together to create our menstrual products, use up a lot of resources and generate harmful emissions. Today, we’re going to do a quick overview into the manufacturing process of disposable tampons, in particular.
Both pads and tampons are generally made out of cotton, rayon, or a mix of two. Rayon is a synthetic fibre created through the conversion of wood pulp, and cotton, as you know, comes from the crop. A byproduct of rayon is dioxin, which has the potential to cause cancer. However, before you get all freaked out about your tampons, instead of bleaching wood pulp, which resulted in traces of dioxin in tampons, most major companies currently use a chlorine-free bleaching process. However, traces of dioxin are sometimes still found in tampons, but the FDA ensures that the exposure to dioxin from tampons today “is many times less than normally present in the body from other environmental sources.” (Insert relief emoji here). This is largely due to the fact that pollution has gone up in the last few decades or so. (Remove relief emoji).
Cotton, the other material used to create tampons and pads, might have a hand in the pollution too. Production of cotton goes through an intensive process that uses large amounts of toxic and hazardous chemicals, polluting the rivers and land in its areas, as well as emitting tons of GHG. For more information on cotton production, read here.
But the biggest environmental impact from tampons, are the applicators, particularly plastic ones. The production of these plastics require a lot of energy and creates long-lasting waste. The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup project collected 20,000 tampon applicators on the beach, and these applicators can take around 25 years to break down in the ocean. Much like other plastics floating in the ocean, these applicators can be ingested by marine life, causing fatal issues.
This is just a quick glance at what’s going on with the production of our most intimate products. There’s a lot more happening within the supply chain of menstrual goods, especially since many companies aren’t required to disclose the ingredients of tampons and pads. Plus, I only touched briefly on tampons. But thinking positively, what sustainable options are there for us women?
In terms of tampons and pads, there aren’t 100% sustainable options, but there are better options. For example, Blume sells 100% organic cotton tampons, with offerings of cardboard applicators that are 100% biodegradable, and bio-plastic applicators that are actually 90% sugar-cane and 10% plastic. You can also purchase reusable applicators instead of using disposable tampons, but it does come with more effort, especially with cleaning it every time before use. Reusable cloth pads, such as Luna Pads, are machine-washable fabric maxi pads. There are also alternatives, such as using a menstrual cup. DivaCup is a popular brand used by many women. They’re reusable, contain no dioxin, no rayon, and are easy to maintain (obviously not as easy as disposable, but think of the waste you’re creating with disposables!).
These are just a few options. Of course, it’s extremely hard to change behaviours; I know I’m still keen on using disposable tampons and pads. But I hope all this information makes you think twice about your purchases, not just menstrual products (if you’re a lady), but all your other purchases. Do you know the amount of waste you’re creating from these purchases? It might not be entirely your fault (i.e. packaging), but what can YOU as a consumer do to be BETTER? Think, is there a more sustainable option for this item? Why not pick it?
And some lingering questions I’ve been thinking about: Why do we use disposable solutions for such a frequent occurrence? Why is there such a stigma behind periods? And how much does this cultural taboo impact the disposable feminine hygiene industry?
This Guardian article has some interesting points that’s worth a read on the ‘disposable’ topic. They note that “commercial messaging around menstruation is partially to blame for the fact that many women can’t imagine using anything but a disposable solution.” Thoughts?
For some more interesting reads, check out this educational page from Luna Pads.
Sources:
https://www.femmeinternational.org/the-history-of-the-sanitary-pad/
https://www.thechicecologist.com/green-living/the-environmental-impact-of-everyday-things/
https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/13/health/whats-in-your-pad-or-tampon/index.html
http://www.center4research.org/tampon-safety/
https://www.ecooutfitters.co.uk/blog/the-environmental-cost-of-non-organic-cotton/
Hey Rachel,
Veryyyy cool post. The facts you included were very shocking, 11,000 tampons! I glad you used this platform to bring up this topic, I have struggled with finding more sustainable products. I’ll for sure be giving them a try. Unfortunately, since this topic can be taboo I feel like there aren’t many options being presented to women or even just general information about where these products come from and their consequences. For example, to my knowledge, you can only order the cup online. Why don’t they start selling it in stores with other menstrual products? Very informative, thanks for sharing!
Hi Justina! Just read your comment, and to touch on your question of where menstrual cups are available for purchase, they have started selling them at pharmacies and stores such as Shopper’s Drug Mart and London Drugs in the menstrual product aisles. I highly recommend them from experience!
Yes Rachel!
I am not shy to admit that menstruation, women’s health and well, any women related topic in general are my favourite discussion points! THANK YOU for doing a piece on this. It is so important to talk openly about these things in order to make people more comfortable and break that taboo! I also loved how you touched on the fact that consumers don’t take everything into consideration when they make purchasing decisions. There is a lot of room for improvement in this regard within our society. For instance, when people use small plastic bags in the grocery store for produce, even though they will likely wash the food anyway, and they will all go into a bag of some sort at checkout! Changing perceptions is tough work. But it starts with conversations like these that get the ball rolling.
Thank you for addressing this topic as I feel it should be discussed more often. I definitely think commercial messaging is a contributor to our linear actions regarding menstruation. Periods are usually associated with feeling gross and unsanitary which make it difficult to imagine reusing an item that has been “contaminated” with our blood. What personally got me interested in menstrual cups besides the grieving amounts of waste produced per month was the health benefits. By communicating how menstrual cups are better for women’s health, I think there’s an opportunity for shifts in consumer behaviour.
Hey Rachel,
Your post really made me reflect on my purchase choices and how difficult it is to change behaviours. For example, my mother was shocked and horrified to hear that I preferred using tampons over pads. She refuses to use tampons because she grew up without them and developed a stigma around them. On a similar note, I am aware of the existence of the Diva Cup, but I have never bought one. To be honest, I am reluctant to try it because even though I know about its benefits, it is an unfamiliar product that intimidates me. However, it is true that we as consumers have a social responsibility to make informed purchases. Perhaps it is time that I get over my own personal biases and give the product a try. After all, not only does it benefit the environment, but it will also save me a lot of money in the long run.
Hello. I just found this article in my seach for the production price of a pack of tampons. Can you help me with some numbers? Or do you know where to look? It’s as if this is something that shoukd never reach the public.
I’m a journalist writing for a Danish women’s magazine.