What do you think about alternative "feminine care" products?

arkonite_babe

calleyw wrote: »

Would also make it easier at work as I work in a very small company and no disposal bins.

Your company is actually breaking the law Calley. There has to be adequate disposal for sanitary items.

Taken from the Workplace act 1992 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1992/Uksi_19923004_en_2.htm

Legislation has been introduced to protect both employees and the environment. It applies to all businesses even if they only have one female employed.
Businesses not providing adequate washroom facilities and sanitary disposal for their employees could be prosecuted. They are also required under the Environment Act to dispose of all waste properly and failing to do this could also lead to prosecution.
You cannot:

• Flush sanitary waste down the toilet – It pollutes rivers and coastlines and may result in blocked drains.
• Dispose of sanitary waste with your normal rubbish – It must be handled by a licensed waste carrier and taken to an authorised point of disposal.

You are required to:

• Provide an adequate means of disposal for sanitary waste such as a sanitary bin.
• Use a registered waste carrier to collect your waste on a regular basis.

Comply with all current government legislation as set down in the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare Regulation) 1992, Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Water Industries Act 1991.

foreversomeday

GreenNinja wrote: »

I know its bad for the environment to use disposable sanitary protection but I would like to see the "disposable" nappy - allegedly it takes 100 years or something to decompose, dealt with first I think its a much higher priority.

Don't think I'm ignoring your opinion, but have a think about this.

The average baby uses 7,000 disposable nappies before they grow out of them. (Bearing in mind this is male and female, so we have to double this figure in order to get a fair estimate of comparing it with women, who represent half of the population.)

The average woman has 450 periods during her lifetime, using on average a pack of 15 pads during each period, which makes 6,750 pads during her entire life. Add to that the fact she might use 2 pantyliners a day on non-period days, which comes to another 6,300 pantyliners going to landfill.

I know sanitary towels aren't as big as nappies, and tampons are a lot smaller, but add it all together and I'd say the problem is almost as bad as the nappy one. They still end up in landfill, and they're made of the same sort of stuff, so they probably take about 100 years to decompose as well.

I'm not saying we should abandon promotion of washable nappies in favour of promoting use of disposable sanitary towels, why can't we promote both together?

foreversomeday

Arkonite, how come businesses have to dispose of "sanitary waste" separately to normal rubbish? Nobody does at home!

...Just something I've always wondered. I can understand in hospitals which might have contagious material in their waste, but ...

keelykat

foreversomeday wrote: »

Arkonite, how come businesses have to dispose of "sanitary waste" separately to normal rubbish? Nobody does at home!

...Just something I've always wondered. I can understand in hospitals which might have contagious material in their waste, but ...

Yeah i was wondering that too!

keely.

arkonite_babe

foreversomeday wrote: »

Arkonite, how come businesses have to dispose of "sanitary waste" separately to normal rubbish? Nobody does at home!

...Just something I've always wondered. I can understand in hospitals which might have contagious material in their waste, but ...

Businesses are classified as a waste producer, there tends to be more waste produced than in a household situation. Sanitary and nappy waste is classified as clinical waste category E (soft waste)

Category E - Items used to dispose of urine, faeces and other bodily secretions and excretions that do not fall within group A. This includes used disposable bedpans or bedpan liners, incontinence pads, stoma bags, catheter bags and tubes and urine containers.

Just to clarify the other categories;

Category A-

• Includes the following items: identifiable human tissue, blood, animal carcasses and the tissue from veterinary centres, hospitals or laboratories.
• Soiled surgical dressings, swabs and all other similar soiled waste.
• Any infectious waste material excluded from Groups B-E.

Category B - Discarded syringes, needles, cartridges, broken glass and other contaminated disposable sharp instruments or items.

Category C - Microbiological cultures and potentially infected waste from pathology departments and other clinical or research laboratories.

Category D - Drugs or other pharmaceutical products.

This is actually part of my job as a service technician for a washroom/cleaning company, trust me the things you have to be aware of you wouldn't believe!!! We also have to be on the lookout for sharps and such as people don't care what they place in sanitary disposal units.

Improper disposal of clinical waste carries a hefty fine, if caught of up to £1000.

Hope this helps explain the why's and wherefores of disposal

Glad

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bigpaws23

There is an article on this here:
http://houseofstrauss.co.uk/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=490

Ellas house make hemp pads which are very absorbant (http://www.ehnappies.co.uk)

I'm a great fan of washables I've been using them for about 5 years now.
For the ladies who still want to use Tampons, have you considered trying the Natracare range? They are made from organic cotton and are not bleached with chlorine.

Great thread - this is one of my passions, so I'm really pleased to see it being bought up again for discussion.

Bigpaws x

dougggie

another Mooncup fan here, converted to them last year. At first I kept feeling paranoid that i was leaking a bit, as it's the same sensation you get with heavy periods when your tampon is saturated, but have never yet had an overflow issue with the mooncup! Luckily don't need to use anything at the mo with being pregant, but will be back to using it as soon as poss after the birth....and have no idea when that's classified as "safe" since they only give advice not to use tampons!

foreversomeday

Bigpaws, it's fast becoming a passion of mine as well. I feel lucky to have discovered this so young - as a late starter I've only been having periods for about 3-4 years, but I've always felt resentful that we have to spend so much money on these plasticky horrible things. I've always hated wearing them but tampons seem to dry me out and the feeling when you pull them out scares me! As I have mentioned in above threads, I'd love to get the "alternatives" at least mentioned by schools, doctors, etc. Most girls of that age would probably run a mile at the thought of reusables but at least they'd know for the future!

Dougggie - some advice from the mooncup website:

Hello,
I've been using a Mooncup very happily for the last year. I'm now expecting our first baby in October, and I wondered if I can use the Mooncup for the bleeding after the birth? I've heard that you shouldn't use tampons, but wondered whether the Mooncup would be OK.

Best wishes,
Kelly
Dear Kelly
It is not recommended to use internal protection for the first six weeks after giving birth. This is because of the increased risk of infection (after trauma to the vaginal tissues.) It would probably be a bit too tender as well! I would use washable cloths for this post birth bleed.

Good luck, and best wishes
Su

500yearvision

I use a mooncup & it's fantastic. It took me a while to figure out I needed to cut off the handle for it to be really comfortable, but once I did this the only danger was that I might forget about it and leave it in for days.
It depends on your bathroom situation - you need access to a sink in the loo to wash it out, but at a push you empty it down the loo then wipe it with toilet paper.