Have you ever considered the environmental impact your choice in sanitary products could be having on our planet?
Over 45 billion tampons or sanitary pads are carelessly thrown away globally each year, resulting in a huge 3.2 million kgs of waste! Tampons are typically made from cotton, rayon, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, and fiber finishes. Apart from cotton and finer finishes, all of these materials are non-bio-degradable, this means that our sanitary products sit in a landfill releasing nasty chemicals into our environment for up to 500 years.
Not only are conventional sanitary products harmful to the environment after use, but they are damaging to the environment and workers whilst they are being produced.
Conventionally grown cotton contains deadly chemicals which cotton farmers are exposed too. An increasingly high demand for cotton has resulted in the farmers turning to pesticides; the use of which leads to 20,000 people losing their lives to cancer or from miscarriages each year.
Not only is the production of cotton causing the loss of human lives, but it is damaging our precious environment and wildlife. Pesticides can contaminate soil, turf, water, and other vegetation- this can be toxic to birds, fish, and non-targeted plants.
Conventionally grown cotton is used in traditional tampons and pads, but there are options and steps that you can take to reduce the amount of conventional cotton being produced to help save lives, and our planet.
One option is to support organic cotton farming by purchasing organic cotton tampons.
When you do this you are helping to protect the environment, as well as the cotton farmers.
Organic tampon companies such as Change to Green and Natracare don’t use pesticides or plastics that conventional tampon companies use. This means that instead of your sanitary products sitting in a landfill for hundreds of years threatening our eco-system, they will break down and decompose within just 5 years.
Organic cotton tampons are also super comfy and safe because they aren’t made with any nasty, harmful chemicals.
Another sustainable option is to use a menstrual cup. Menstrual cups have been creating a lot of buzz on the internet recently so I probably don’t need to go into much detail on what they are and how they work. However, for those of you who don’t know, a menstrual cup is a silicone or latex rubber cup which collects your menstrual flow rather than absorbing it.
All you need to do is insert the cup, leave it for up to 12 hours, empty it, and then you just need to give it a wash and it is ready to re-use!
Menstrual cups (although they may seem a little daunting at first) are a great way to both save money and reduce your waste.
If you are someone who finds tampons or menstrual cups uncomfortable, or if you just prefer using pads- organic cloth pads are a great option. Organic cloth pads are super comfortable, and absorbent and they have the added bonus of being re-useable.
Although washing a cloth pad isn’t as easy as chucking a conventional pad into the bin, if you choose to use organic cloth pads you are actively helping our environment!
Are you ready to take the next step to reduce your waste?
Change to Green and MyCup NZ are both sustainable and ethical brands that are passionate about keeping our planet as waste free, and green as possible. To encourage and help your transition to a more eco-friendly lifestyle, they are both offering discount codes on selected products.
To get 10% off of all Change to Green products just enter the discount code “livekindly” at checkout- this applies to our New Zealand and Australian readers.
If you live in New Zealand you can also receive a 10% discount on these selected products Hannah Pads, Tati Cup 01,Tati Cup 02 , Menstrual Cup, Modibodi Underwear. All you need to do is enter the code “livekindly10” at checkout.
If you don’t live in New Zealand or Australia don’t worry! There are plenty of eco-friendly menstrual products and brands available, check out NatraCare and Mooncup to start exploring your options!
It doesn’t take much to change your choice in menstrual products, but the impact it has is huge! Help to protect cotton farmers and our environment by switching to an environmentally friendly, sustainable alternative.
Discount offers expire 31/8/17.
