How do you dispose of your sanitary pad? It’s easy to put it in a bin when you’re at home but what about if you’re in public and there are no bins in sight.
According to new research, several people who menstruate flush their sanitary pads down the toilet.
In fact, over a third of us have flushed a period pad or tampon, and of those who flush, over halfdo it monthly.
It turns out that Gen X (42-57) are the biggest flushers, with 47% of British people in this age bracket admitting to having flushed a period product compared to only 20% of those aged 16-17.
It’s safe to say that we can find disposing of period products challenging.
A survey, commissioned by the world’s only flushable period product Fluus, has shown that even though periods are completely normal, many of us have encountered tricky situations even when they have disposed of their products appropriately.
Everyone will know how awkward it can be when you start your period at a date’s house, with 1 in 10 surveyed claiming that they wouldn’t want to leave used period products at their date house’s house.
Flushing pads can be an easy solution to avoid embarrassment but it’s a choice that’s blocking our nation’s waterways. Conventional disposable menstrual products are made from 90% plastic, and plastic products take hundreds of years to decompose, which means waste will stay in landfill for over 500 years.
In terms of period care specifically, over three-quarters of people who menstruate in the UK are worried about the environmental impact of their period products.
3 billion menstrual products are used each year in the UK, generating 200,000 tonnes of waste.
This is why fluuus has created a pad that disappears entirely. It’s the only period product that breaks down in the toilet, similar to loo roll.
With the power of the toilet flush, Fluus pads break down into plant fibres and biodegradable materials, which means no permanent waste is left behind, as opposed to the microplastics and chemicals left by other period products.
“Our waste should not outlive us. A pad that is used for 8 hours should never stick around for 500 years. We spent the last 5 years developing the only certified flushable pad that is 15% more absorbent than the market-leader, and breaks down in days, not centuries,” Aaron Koshy, co-founder of Fluus, says.
So, yes it may be easier to just flush away your period pad but that has significant effects on the planet. Time to arm ourselves with Fluus.