Happy Earth Day!
I believe every day (not just Earth day) should be an opportunity to make better choices for our home/temple/world. If you are someone who menstruates, one of the best things you can do for yourself and the Earth is to consider switching to reusable menstrual products (cloth pads, menstrual underwear, menstrual cups).
The average menstruating person uses 22-25 single-use disposable tampons/pads per month. They will be having 450 periods and using 11,000 tampons/pads in their lifetime. That’s around 150 kg of plastic waste per person per year. The numbers are pretty crazy! That also amounts to $100s spent on menstrual products per year.
Reusable menstrual products can be intimidating to use at first. You will really get to know your uterus (and your fertility) quite well. They’ll save you a substantial amount of money in the long run: These products are a one-time purchase (~$30-40 per cup/1-2 pieces of underwear/3-4 cloth pads) but will last you for 5-10 years –> that’s spending only a whopping $0.30-0.60 per month or ~$5 per year on your periods!
Reusable menstrual products are good for your health: Less exposure to latex, BPA, dyes, dioxins, bleaches. Less risk of developing disease associated with chemical exposure.
They’re good for the Earth! Reusable menstrual products are environmentally friendly and can encourage/enhance menstrual education. The impact reusable products have on menstruating people in developing countries whose access to education can be severely disrupted by lack of access to clean and safe menstrual products. Win-win!
Have you considered making a switch to reusable menstrual products? What products have you grown to love that you swear by? What was the most challenging/difficult part of switching to reusable products?