Thursday, April 7, 2011

trashy tampons and polluting pads


Earlier today I got an email from an LC student who's studying abroad in China. She heard about this project and sent me an email with this question:

"What about the gross stuff. (tampons, toilet paper...) Does this count as trash? In China, you can't flush anything so all of that that would be flushed would qualify as trash. What is PEAS' take on this? Also, do you have smokers? How is this issue addressed?"

As for the question about smokers, I'm not sure about that one.

But, regarding the first question... Great timing, because later today I found myself needing to invest in a pack of reusable cloth menstrual pads. A good excuse to finally get around to doing something I'd been saying I would do for a while now. And, believe it or not, they're great. I honestly prefer them to regular pads and tampons.

They're significantly more comfortable and they're really not as gross to deal with as one might think. They came in a pack of three so you can rotate them through washing them and letting them dry. With a 5 year guarantee they're bound to pay for themselves many times over, in addition to eliminating yet another one of my contributions to the waste stream. I consider this one a success.

-Julia

p.s. for others who are interested in this and other alternatives, check out these links:

http://lunapads.com/
http://www.divacup.com/
http://www.goddesspads.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth_menstrual_pad
http://how-to.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_make_a_reusable_menstrual_pad


1 comment:

  1. There are lots of online patterns for sewing your own custom reusable pads. You could even try to select fabrics that aren't dyed or chemically treated, I bet, to be super earth-friendly.

    I can attest to how totally awesome the Diva Cup is. I'm never going back to disposable tampons/pads!

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