Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet, and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
If you flip through magazines or social media today, you might come across advertisements for environmentally-friendly feminine hygiene products. We wondered if they were worth the investment.
We had Fatima Husain and Dana Altoaimi from our Possibly team look into this. Welcome, Fatima and Dana!
Fatima Husain: Hi, Megan!
Dana Altoaimi: Hello!
Megan Hall: So, of all of the choices I make and the things I use, is it really worth worrying whether my tampons are “environmentally friendly”?
Fatima Husain: Let’s put this in perspective- if you get your period every month, you’ll have nearly 500 periods in your lifetime.
Dana Altoaimi: Each period lasts about four to seven days at a time. Which means you use a LOT of menstrual products. We’re talking around 10 thousand pads or tampons over the course of your life.
Fatima Husain: And then, they all end up in the trash.
Dana Altoaimi: Or, if you flush them down the toilet….
Fatima Husain: ….Which you should NEVER NEVER do!
Dana Altoaimi: They can end up in our oceans.
Megan Hall: But how bad are these products compared to all of the other stuff we throw out?
Dana Altoaimi: It depends on the product and how it’s packaged.
Fatima Husain: But in general, the more plastic a pad or tampon uses, the more waste it creates.
Dana Altoaimi: That’s because their plastics don’t break down or decompose.
Fatima Husain: In a one day beach clean-up organized by the Ocean Conservancy, volunteers in the US picked up more than twelve thousand five hundred tampons and applicators.
Megan Hall: How does that compare to other waste found in the ocean?
Dana Altoaimi: It’s the number one type of medical or personal hygiene product found on our beaches, ahead of condoms, diapers, and syringes.
Megan Hall: Okay, so what should I do instead?
Fatima Husain: Try buying something that you can reuse like cloth pads, or menstrual underwear.
Megan Hall: Reuse? What do I do when I’m done with them?
Dana Altoaimi: Just throw them in the laundry. They’re typically made out of a mix of synthetic and natural fibers, so they can last a long time.
Fatima Husain: Or, you could invest in a menstrual cup!
Megan Hall: What’s that?
Dana Altoaimi: A menstrual cup is usually made of medical-grade silicone or latex. It’s designed to catch your period, so you don’t need to use pads or tampons.
Fatima Husain: You can use one of these cups for up to 12 hours at a time, and they can last for as long as 10 years!
Megan Hall: But how much do these things cost?
Fatima Husain: Reusable products are more expensive- menstrual cups cost around thirty to fifty dollars, and period underwear can be more than twenty dollars a pair.
Dana Altoaimi: But a box of tampons costs about seven dollars. If you use one box a month, you’ll pay off a menstrual cup in about half a year. So, in the long term, you’ll save money.
Megan Hall: But what if I’m not ready to make a switch to cloth products or a menstrual cup. Are there smaller things I can do to lower my period waste?
Fatima Husain: Absolutely. The key here is switching away from all that packaging and plastic. So, try buying tampons without applicators or period products that are made of natural fibers instead of synthetic material, which takes longer to break down
Megan Hall: Great! Thanks for looking into this, Fatima and Dana! And thanks to Isha Chawla for her help on today’s episode.
For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly.” Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and the Public’s Radio.
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