According to Friends of the earth, pads are estimated to contain 90% plastic and tampons compose 6% hence, a pack of disposable menstrual pads is equivalent to 4 plastic bags. Imagine the tons of plastic we women alone produce every month using pads, aren’t we contributing towards plastic periods?
Women’s voices for the earth have shared a timeline of chemical testing of period products, reflecting on the toxins present in them.
Periods are possible without plastic and, it’s time for us to begin environmenstrual practices!
Evolution of plastic pads
Growing up, I have heard stories from my mother that she had used cloth, folded into multiple layers over the panties for soaking the period flow during menstruation; but days of overflow would tire her from frequent washing and drying of them. Those days, she said, women were not supposed to complain nor break the silence over such boycotted topics and, she still remembers the day when she saw for the first time on TV an advertisement for sanitary pads launched by Whispers, the first pad company in India.
Though we all might not have seen that Ad, I am sure you all might have heard about the Whisper’s campaign on #TouchThePickle to announce the end of period taboos. Here’s the clip.
That little girl thought that it would bring light to her life but little did she know that it wouldn’t last long enough for her legacy to glow. Along with ending period taboos, we should also mark an end to plastic periods, for the betterment of our mother earth’s ailment.
EcoFemme
“We started EcoFemme in 2010 and we are an all women’s organization right now and are based in Auroville, an intentional community in South India. We were actually looking for livelihood options to uplift the rural women and tailors and now we sell our cloth pads through an online shop, retailers in India and 23 other countries.
Learning about the lack of awareness on menstruation and the interest of girls and women in cloth pads encouraged us to start educational programmes and they are pad-for-pad and pad-for-sisters. Our commercial work funds our educational initiatives and it empowered us to carry on with our passions.” – Jessamjin
Morning Lazziness proudly presents to you an interview session with Ms. Jessamjin Miedema, the co-founder of EcoFemme, a women-led social enterprise that sells washable cloth pads. During the conversation, we discussed the need to bring an end to plastic periods and mark the beginning of the cloth pad revolution, breaking the silence over period taboos in India and elsewhere, and the inspiring backstory of EcoFemme and their latest collections.
Our collections
“We have 2 main collections, the vibrant and natural range and they come in all different sizes and thicknesses depending on the user’s flow, they come with a leak-proof layer and wings and buttons to fasten around your panties. All these pads are made up of certified organic cotton, along with these we also produce washable baby-nappies and occasionally we launch special editions of cloth pads with remarkable patterns and designs.” – Jessamjin
Check out EcoFemme’s online shop here and get one for yourself rightway!
Launch of this year
“On this auspicious day of ‘Menstruation Hygiene Day’, we are launching a cloth pad dyed in organic henna as a special edition. We are also planning to begin a new line of work with our special editions of cloth pads in the upcoming years.”- Jessamjin
