How to Have an Eco Friendly Period

eco friendly period

From when you first started your period you probably used pads and tampons. And probably you never even considered alternatives. These have just been the norm.

More than ever we look to make our world a little more green. The cars we drive (or don’t), reducing our plastic, eating a vegan diet. Well how about an eco friendly period too?

There are so many fantastic sustainable period products on the market now, such as reusable tampon applicators, reusable pads, period underwear and menstrual cups.

Each person with a period would go through around 11,000 disposable tampons or pads through their life. Now multiply that by the number of people in just your close family… That’s a fair amount of waste isn’t it, let alone taking into account the rest of the world!

But let’s not stop there with how to make your period eco friendly. When you are on your period you might crave different foods. You can make sure these are eco too and reduce the overall impact on the environment.

In this blog, we are going to not only look at different products for an eco friendly period, but also how you can make sure your cravings are not going to impact the world either.

Why do eco friendly period products have a positive impact?

eco friendly period Well obviously, there is the waste in terms of the pad or tampon and the packaging it comes in. Then there is the source of the product and the environmental impact from growing large cotton crops.

They’re thirsty old plants and take lots of water to keep alive. This is what the majority of period products are made from.

Tampons also can contain various chemicals which then find themselves in landfills. The chemicals are then soaked up into the ground and cause pollution.

The other day, on our Instagram, we asked you for your opinions on using a cup and here’s what you had to say:

How to have an eco friendly period

Plastic free, reusable period products

The probably most obvious way to make your period eco friendly is by choosing plastic free and reusable products.

You will also want to check that plastic free, reusable products also come in packaging that is plastic free for extra eco friendly period points!

Reusable plastic free period products include:

Menstrual cups
Reusable tampon applicator
Reusable cotton pads
Period pants

You can even make your own period pads if you are pretty handy with sewing! Check out this reusable pad pattern by WEN. Or here for instructions on making the homemade pads pictured.

Food cravings

I’m 100% sure I am not alone when I say during my period I get food cravings. Sometimes I’ll just want salty crisps, other times bars of chocolate.

Annoyingly, crisp packets aren’t recyclable in your general curbside recycling. You have to find somewhere that takes them. Search Terracycle on Google which should be able to tell you where to find your local collection spot.

When it comes to chocolate, you could make sure that the packaging is recyclable, or at least the majority of it is. We love the vegan bars from Prodigy as they are plastic free!

You might look at buying organic and fairtrade dark chocolate to curb cravings and enjoy some antioxidants too!

If cake and sweet treats is your craving, why not head out to support your local cafe and their homemade cakes. In terms of plastic, this would be a much more plastic free option than buying a cake from the shop. Also delicious.

Pain killers

eco friendly period Recycling the packaging from pain killers is notoriously difficult. It would involve you picking off all the foil from the plastic blister pack before putting it in the bin.

You might consider going for plastic free pain relief solutions. One consideration may be CBD, which is thought to help with the pain and inflammation caused by periods, as well as mood and anxiety.

Using a plastic free CBD oil will help keep your period eco friendly and save you the laborious task of removing foil from plastic…

There you have it. Some different ways to make your period eco friendly that you might not have thought of. Do you have an eco friendly period hack to share with us? DM us @itsourremedy. Thank you for reading!

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