Did you know that a pack of conventional pads can contain up to five plastic carrier bags worth of plastic? In contrast, organic period products from brands such as TOTM, Flo or NatraCare are made of 100% cotton and are completely biodegradable. They break down under the correct composting conditions and take around 6 months for organic tampons to decompose, while conventional pads can take 500 - 800 years for single-use plastic period protection to break down!

No period products, even biodegradable ones, should ever be flushed away. An estimated 2.5 million tampons, 1.4 million pads, and 700,000 panty liners are flushed down the toilet every single day in the UK, leading to menstrual products being the fifth most common item found on Europe’s beaches, more widespread than single-use coffee cups, cutlery, or straws.

The Student's Union at UWE are proud to provide free, organic and plastic free single use menstrual products in all our toilets. This academic year, we increased the number of period product provision locations we stocked across all our campus sites.

Each basket contains a mix of tampons, regular pads and pantyliners from NatraCare. The products are made from renewable, biodegradable and compostable materials making them free from plastic, chlorine and dyes and perfume. You can learn more about NatraCare and why we use them here.

By using products from NatraCare, an eco-friendly, Bristol based, disposable period product company, we can tackle period poverty whilst also caring for the environment and promoting sustainable products.

Read more about our sustainable period schemes, including our free reusable period product trial, here.

Image Credit : www.kaboompics.com