Free reusable menstrual products fight period poverty, plastic use

Creighton University’s Elieen B. Lieben Center for Women hosted its Flow and Grow event in the Skutt Student Center. At the Nov. 5 event, students learned more about menstruation and the importance of sustainability from speaker Dr. Jodanne Hedrick, an OBGYN and assistant professor at Creighton’s School of Medicine. Free compostable menstrual cups and discs were also distributed.  

“As we’ve developed this program, we realized that, even me included, there’s a lot of women who don’t know a lot about their bodies and how menstruation actually works,” student coordinator for the Lieben Center for Women and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, Vanessa White, said.  

White said the event aimed to provide a safe space to learn more about menstruation in an open, educational setting. 

“We even had [asked] the question of ‘What do you think comes out of your body during menstruation?’ and most people just think it’s blood and … we realized that not a lot of women know the inner workings of their body,” she said.  

Lieben Center for Women’s student staff member and a sophomore in the Heider College of Business, Akofa Aclinou, also recognized a lack in menstruation education prior to collegiate life.  

“In terms of my educational history, the first time that I ever learned about a period was in elementary school. I think in sixth grade, we had that formal talk about how menstruation works, and like, ‘Oh, once you get your period, you should … go home [and] talk to your parents about it,” Aclinou said. “Obviously I started menstruating myself, and then I went to a public school at the time, so it wasn’t really spoken about, and it’s also important to note, obviously, public school’s co-ed, so there were men in the classrooms as well. So, it wasn’t like freely talked about. If I needed a tampon or a pad, I didn’t really want to announce that in front of the class.” 

Though the center originally held events such as Vibe and Paint, which included an informational presentation on menstruation while participants painted tote bags and received free feminine products. This year, the group collaborated with the Office of Sustainability to promote women’s health alongside environmental responsibility.  

“It’s a big problem with female menstrual products, and how it’s really disposable, and how it’s been impacting the environment,” Aclinou said. “Especially because most pads, tampons, all that kind of stuff is mostly made out of plastic. So, it’s not really good to go back into the environment. So, we decided to [give out] reusable menstrual products, which are silicone menstrual cups and silicone menstrual discs … to the people who attended,”   

According to the presentation given at the Flow and Grow event, approximately 12 billion pads and seven billion tampons are discarded annually in within the United States, which can take about 500 years to decompose. So, with the distribution of compostable and reusable feminine products, the center is able to not only promote more eco-friendly products, but safer alternatives as well.  

“With social media … certain brands coming out have [these] chemicals or … have bleach or something in them and we don’t want to be handing products out to students that we know are harming them,” White said. “And it seems like every day there’s something coming out that’s not good for you. So, just trying to also navigate between misinformation and trying to be reasonable and realistic, but that’s something we’ve definitely talked about and are considering and trying to figure out.” 

As the center passed out free compostable menstrual discs and cups, White and Aclinou also aimed to address the prominent issue of period poverty. According to their presentation, the average student may spend $55-70 annually on disposable menstruation products, yet a menstrual disc can save a student about $165-$250 as it lasts three to five years.  

“It is not the easiest thing to do, but it was really heartwarming to see women come up and say, ‘Thank you, I’ve been wanting to try this, and I don’t have the money for that right now,” White said. “And I think that was the big[gest] thing. We talked about period poverty and how even, I believe, one in 10 women experienced period poverty – and that’s a lot of women – and to be able to try these things for free is very empowering. It gives you the opportunity to explore those options.”  

Additionally, Aclinou said this event provided an opportunity for women to receive help without needing to feel the pressure or shame to voice it directly.  

“It’s important to be aware of your surroundings and aware that some students, some people aren’t on the same level as you all the time. … Like, some people are also going through a hard time, and they don’t want to voice it as well,” Aclinou said. “So, being able to just have this be an event where anybody can come, it doesn’t have to be like, ‘Oh, like I’m struggling, I need something that will help me,’ you can just come, you don’t have to explain your situation.”  

The center also provided an option for those who were unable to attend to receive the presentation virtually or visit them for a personal educational seminar.  

“We asked if they would like to see the presentation on their own time or come in with and talk to the Lieben staff and kind of get a little more personal presentation,” White said. “And then, they’re still able to pick it [discs and cups] up because we understand time conflicts and even being in that space can sometimes be uncomfortable even though there’s a room full of women. So, that’s why we kind of had the Lieben Center too. It’s a support, especially if you don’t feel comfortable kind of walking in a room that maybe you don’t feel comfortable in.”