If you’ve kept up-to-date with the most recent environmental news, you’ll know how harmful plastic pollution is. Unfortunately, countless items contain single-use plastic materials—not only your everyday plastic bags and coffee cups, but also your menstruation products. The ripple effect of menstruation waste needs to be addressed head-on for our environment’s sake1. After all, billions of disposable menstrual products are utilized yearly, meaning the problem isn’t getting any smaller.
Menstrual Waste—A Plastic Pollution Contributor
As discussed above, countless items contribute to our global plastic pollution crisis, and period product waste is just one of them. After all, both sanitary pads and tampons are made of plastic2. Even the tampons’ strings are comprised of plastic, while the plastic applicators are constructed of polypropylene and polyethylene. As a standard product in demand by every person who menstruates, it’s unsurprising that an eye-watering amount of menstrual waste ends up in landfill sites yearly.
With a large pack of pads containing a similar amount of plastic as several plastic bags, it’s apparent how big of a problem this is. If this wasn’t enough, period product waste contributes to the climate problem in the same way as all single-use plastic items because they are produced by harmful fossil fuels.
If this wasn’t enough, many period products contain synthetic fragrances with harmful irritants, allergens, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These chemicals can damage human health and have been linked to several reproductive diseases.
The Adverse Impact On Our Oceans
Ocean conservation and how we can improve it has been a hot topic for some time now. However, menstrual waste is harming our oceans. Many individuals are guilty of flushing tampons and pads down the toilet. Not only can this block sewers, but it can also trigger waste to end up in the ocean and on beaches3.
This is a problem because menstrual waste can break down into microplastics, referring to tiny plastic debris components broken down from consumer products and larger plastic items. Thus, menstrual waste is a significant contributor to microplastics in the sea, and period products have become one of the main items washed up on European beaches.
Microplastics trigger the suffocation, ingestion, entanglement, and even death of countless marine species. Wildlife, including turtles, fish, seabirds, and whales, often confuse plastic for food. As their stomachs become full of plastic, many animals die of starvation, or contamination.
What Is The Environmental Solution To Menstrual Waste?
Now that you know why menstrual waste is such a vast environmental problem4, it’s worth checking out the solutions.
1. Menstrual Cups
Menstrual cups are perhaps the most obvious alternative to disposable tampons and pads. Reusing a menstrual cup can not only stop plastic from ending up in our oceans but also reduce the demand to produce more products. While menstrual cups tend to cost more upfront, they save individuals money within the first few uses.
2. Other Reusable Alternatives
If menstrual cups aren’t your thing, there are a few other reusable alternatives you could invest in. For example, washable pads and period underwear will also stop plastic disposal on the scale of tampons and regular pads.
3. Support Eco-Friendly Brands
Furthermore, you can help the situation by supporting eco-friendly brands. Some brands offer plastic-free and organic tampons and pads free from toxic chemicals and plastic. These eco-friendly products are also typically biodegradable, meaning they won’t hang around in harmful landfill sites for years. Supporting environmentally-kind brands also reduces the demand for products from more harmful brands.
4. Dispose Of Items Correctly
A further way to stop plastic from entering our oceans is to ensure that you dispose of your menstrual waste in a bin rather than the toilet itself. Sometimes, sanitary bins are available, while wrappers and cardboard packaging can often be recycled. Some tampon brands can even be composted! Furthermore, if you have products that you do not want to use, for example, if you purchased the wrong brand, you should donate them to a charity rather than throwing them away.
5. Raise Awareness
Raising awareness of the harmful environmental effects of menstrual waste can encourage others to take action too. For example, you could share informative articles on social media or simply spread the word in everyday in-person conversations. Greenperiodsorg5 is an Instagram account renowned for spreading the word on sustainable menstruation.
Key Takeaways
- Menstrual waste has a substantial adverse effect on our environment, which we must address promptly before our plastic crisis worsens.
- There are many environmental implications out there, meaning that individuals have the power to create positive change surrounding this issue.
- Spreading the word about the environmental issues surrounding period products could help save our planet—never underestimate the power of social media.
