Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28th
#menstrualhygieneJust a random thought about the environmental-friendly menstrual products.
Being a woman is not easy. A woman lives through 2,280 days of period in her life. Most of us are used to the conventional ways of managing our period: disposable menstrual products. Each woman goes through approximately 5,000 to 15,000 disposable pads/tampons in a lifetime, the majority of which will end up in landfills. Disposables usually take around 500 to 800 years to break down as most of them contains up to 90% plastics (polyethylene, polypropylene and polyester) or other non-degradable material. Most tampons also contain chemicals which we do not want to come into contact with one of the most sensitive and absorbent parts of the body.
There are many easy and effective sanitary products that can be more environmental-friendly. I have been using menstrual cups and reusable cloth pads for 2 years. Not only they are eco-friendly, they are economical and they do not contain harmful chemicals which are comfortable and safe to the body.
While I have seen many campaigns in India or Nepal advocating the use of sustainable options, disposable menstrual products are still overly advertised in Hong Kong. Heavy marketing of disposable menstrual products making women seeing them as default products in managing period. While reusable pads and menstrual cups may not be the solution to #endperiodpoverty as some areas do not have clean water and sanitary washing facilities for women to wash and dry reusable sanitary products.
Menstruation is a less taboo topic now. Living in the city, we have access to many useful and reliable information on the proper care and use of reusable pads and menstrual cups and have clean water to sanitize menstrual products. I am hoping more women are willing to try them.
#greenerperiod #menstruation #environmentallyfriendly #環保L #environmental #sustainable #water
