Those disposable pads and tampons? Not cotton wool as you might have thought but plastic. Sigh!
Why?
Along with cotton buds, tampons, applicators and panty liners make up 7.3 % of items flushed down the toilet in the UK.
For every kilometre of beach included in the Beachwatch survey weekend in 2010, 22.5 towels/panty liners/backing strips, and 8.9 tampon applicators, were found.
About 90% of the materials used to make sanitary pads and liners are plastic and include polyethylene, polypropylene and polyacrylate super absorbents.
Every year, over 45 billion feminine hygiene products are disposed of somewhere.
Read more here
How
There is no doubt menstruation can be a grubby business. So three cheers for the mooncup using, reusable wearing, all green and lovely ladies of clean. Here’s what they use
Resuables
Because of the nature of the product, where it has to go and what it has to do the options do contain some plastic. Shop bought reusable pads may be made of synthetic fibres and have a waterproof backing (though some don’t). Silicone is non biodegradable and very plastic like. But they are reusable and so cut your plastic consumption by massive amounts. You can find out lots more via the product links.
Reusable menstrual pads / sanitary towel. They are as they sound. Reusable pad you wash after use. You can buy them ready made from smaller suppliers on Esty to bigger mainstream companies. You can even make them yourself. Read more here – buy or make Reusable menstrual pads / sanitary towel
Internal / Menstrual Cup – This is little silicone or rubber cup that you use internally. It collects the flow and is then emptied washed and reused. Before you squeal and scream read this.
Disposables
Not only do towels and tampons come wrapped in plastic, the fibres used to make them are often synthetic plastic. About 90% of the materials used to make sanitary pads and liners are plastic and include polyethylene, polypropylene and polyacrylate super absorbents. Natracare to a great range of almost plastic free menstrual products. Try these
Tampon with applicator made from organic cotton with a cardboard applicator in a paper wrapper.
Other Interesting Options
About which I know very little
Sea Sponges
There’s an interesting read here with instructions on how to make your own and reviews of ready made here.
Buy Local First
Being committed to local shopping, I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source.
Buy from independent online traders
If you can’t buy local please do check the links above to the suppliers and buy direct from them and support their online businesses.
Finally ….If you can’t do that then I have put together and Amazon catalogue. Yes I know…
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| Gladrags Menstrual Color Cotton Pads – 3 – … £18.67 |
Mooncup Menstrual Cup Size B 1pieces £19.99 Comes in 2 sizes – check before you buy you can read a review on http://plasticisrubbish.com/2010/01/03/lady-stuff/ |
Mooncup Menstrual Cup Size A 1pieces £19.99 |
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| Natracare Regular Pads £1.90 – £18.27 |
Natracare Organic All Cotton Tampons With A… £2.59 see review on our website http://plasticisrubbish.com/2014/06/26/tampons-with-applicator/ |
Reusable Hemp Sanitary Towel |
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| Reusable Cotton Sanitary Towel – Flowers &a… | The Busy Woman’s Guide to Cloth Pads by Tracy Puhl |
GladRags Color Day Pad £6.00 – |
If you buy a product via this link we do get an affiliation fee for this. This is not why we do it.