The GRAB Trust is delivering a project into schools and communities, which helps to tackle period poverty and promote reusable period products (including making your own). Every school in Argyll and Bute will receive a box packed with educational menstrual goodies. These educational packs are the culmination of The GRAB Trust’s Be Part of the Cycle project, all about having periods that are healthy for you and the planet.
Thanks to project funders Sea-Changers, and product donors, Cheeky and Hey Girls, each box contains examples of reusable period products and links to online learning resources for both teachers and students. These packs will support teachers to explain the environmental, health, and financial benefits of re-usable period products. Helping new and future generations of Argyll choose the best menstrual product for them and the planet.
As the cost of living crisis bites, more households face period poverty, making it more difficult to spend on period products. People who menstruate use more than 11,000 disposable menstrual products in their lifetime. Sadly, in the UK one in ten girls cannot afford to buy menstrual products. This increased to three in ten during the 2020 lockdown. Reusable period products cost around 90% less than disposable ones over the products lifetime. Using a menstrual cup can save up to £3,700 over a lifetime. That’s a saving that could really help during these financially strained times.
The education packs also contain instructions to sew your own reusable period pad, thanks to the Pachamama Project. You can upcycle old fabric into a money saving reusable pad for yourself and/or send some to the Pachamama Project to help a refugee. Many of you have already discovered just how easy it is through the GRAB Trust’s Sew your Own Reusable Pad workshops that were held across Argyll this summer.
Did you know that for every 100m of beach in Argyll and Bute, there are on average eight items of menstrual litter to be found. Period pads can contain up to 90% plastic, so they will hang around in the oceans for a long time. Not the sort of things we want to see on the beach, especially not on our child’s sand castle, or to have to fish out of our mischievous dog’s mouth!
We are highlighting reusables together with the availability of free period products for everyone through initiatives like Hey Girls nationally and My Tribe in Argyll and Bute. The Scottish Government Period Products Bill makes menstrual products freely available to everyone who needs them, including reusable products.
Find out more – www.grab.org.uk
