Day 26: For the Ladies...(or gentlemen who care about their lady friends)

Note: this post is not for the squeamish/ those who aren't comfortable with the cycles of the female body!

Women menstruate for about 40 years of their life. Roughly one week per month per year. That is about 2500 days or 6 and a half years depending on how long your cycle lasts. Every day of her cycle, a woman probably uses at least 3 tampons/pads. For an average woman's life  (not counting pregnancies, etc) that is 7500 tampons/pads.

First of all, that is really expensive! Second of all, all of those pads and plastic applicators don't just disappear when you throw them into the bin. And don't even get me started on bleached cotton tampons...

In the US, an estimated 12 billion sanitary napkins and 7 billion tampons are thrown away annually. Between 1998 and 1999, 170 000 plastic tampon applicators were collected along the US coast. Gross.

These things aren't just bad for the environment, they're bad for you! The materials used to make pads/and tampons have been chemically treated to give them that nice, shiny white appearance. Pads also contain polyethylene (remember the paper cup coating?)  which releases methane gas when it breaks down. Dioxin, a know carcinogen, is a by-product of bleaching tampons containing rayon.

There has to be a better way!

Fortunately, there is!

I have been using the Diva Cup for about two years now, and I'll never go back to disposable feminine hygiene products. It is a high-quality, 100% silicon menstrual cup that works kind of like a tampon. It costs about $30 and lasts for a few years (so in the end, it saves you money!) It takes a bit of getting used to, maybe two cycles or so, but once you have figured out how it works with your body, it is amazing! Check out their site for more details. (Other brands exist around the world, but currently the Diva cup is the only one approved for sale in Canada. For those you at Queen's University, check out the SHRC - they actually have a money back guarantee!) Furthermore, according to the DivaCup website (I should probably do more research on this...) since it is made from 100% silicon, which is really made from sand, it will degrade over time after it has been tossed.

My awesome housemate, Serena, also sent me a link to the luna pads sites, which are reusable cotton panty liners and pads. I think that the pads would work as an excellent "backup" for the Diva cup and hope to try  them out soon!

So, I think this is a great way that women can reduce their waste and carbon footprint! What do you think?