Transform women from consumers into champions of eco-sustainability.
Why
The ecoperiod™ Project was born from the need to address period poverty prevalent in 3rd world nations such as India, and to promote safe and eco-sustainable period products, especially among women belonging to the marginalised communities. Period taboos impact mental, physical and social health, increasing gender inequity. Menstrual health is a matter of human rights. Every woman has the right to access safe period products. Sadly, the plastic pads that are promoted to combat global period poverty have caused more harm than good, not just to users but also to the environment. Despite knowing how plastic pads adversely impact user health, we continue to promote them. Information on what constitutes plastic pads is not made available to the users. The motivation behind this project is the need to make women aware of their menstrual health and encourage them to adopt eco-sustainable practices in order to address their menstrual needs.
For every human that ever exists, there is a mother that menstruates.
Menstruation & Environment
Menstruation or menses, the natural (bio-physiological) process by which women bleed uterine (reproductive) matter through the vagina, ensures the continuity of human life on this planet. For every baby that is ever born there is a mother that menstruates. Women comprise half of the world’s 8 billion people and each woman menstruates for 4-5 days a month, for a period of 40 years during her life-time. Thus, the total menstruating days of an average woman add up to approximately 6 years.
According to data, close to 900 million girls and women all over the world menstruate on any given day. Yet, the taboos surrounding menstruation make it one of the least spoken about across cultural geographies. Even today, young girls are taught to whisper should the need to talk about menstruation ever arise, so much so that, most women become aware of menstruation only when they experience their first menstrual cycle (also known as 'menarche'). In India, approximately 70% of girls first hear of menstruation at the onset of their menarche.
The Problem
Unsustainable Menstrual
practices
Sanitary pads were first introduced in India in the 1930s. However, it wasn’t until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the disposable plastic sanitary pads (DPSPs) with adhesives gained mass popularity. And even though the commercially manufactured sanitary pads, did to an extent, succeed in starting the discourse around menstruation and menstrual hygiene, the shame and misconceptions around menstrual blood were never addressed. Menstruation-related commercials, which were banned prior to 1993, were just that – advertisements that promoted products. They were aimed at the urban upper class which had with its increasing per capita income and need for purchasing new products and experiences become the target of manufacturers. The convenience of the use-and-throw plastic pad appealed to the sensibilities of the urban upper class women as most of them were either working or engaged in activities outside the confines of their homes.
Our current consumption patterns with its culture of one-time-use-and-throw disposables are the highest contributors to environmental pollution, with unsegregated urban household wastes like plastic bags, plastic wraps, raw and cooked food, packaging for medicines, and sanitary pads, being dumped into sewers, rivers, lakes, and landfills every day.
Our Mission
Empower women to make the rIGHT CHOICE
Women BLEED so that the human race can continue to thrive on this planet. Sadly, for most women, experiencing this natural life-giving phenomenon is nothing short of traumatic.
Eco Period pledges to end period poverty in all its forms, by transforming women into eco-warriors who not only practise but also champion eco-sustainable life-styles and practices, starting with eco-sustainable menstruation.
Eco Period acknowledges period poverty in all its forms - period taboos, lack of period awareness and education, inaccessible period products, and social inequity faced by women only because they menstruate. Eco Period also recognises that the use of industrially manufactured plastic sanitary pads and tampons is today a bigger cause of concern for women's health as well as the health of the planet.
