since i was a teenager, getting my period has meant heading to cvs to replenish a stock of products from name brands like tampax or playtex and then, just as quickly, tossing them in the trash. 

i am not alone. according to data from the harvard business school, on average, users discard 11,000 tampons throughout their lifetime, which all adds up to 331 pounds of waste. 

traditional period care products are like trifle cakes of plastic. it is in product wrappers, applicators, receptacles for disposal, and even embedded in the product itself in some cases. menstrual pads specifically can be made up of 90% plastic. period care products cannot be recycled so the majority of this waste ends up in landfills. 

in the conversation surrounding sustainability, single-use plastics are normally at the forefront. reusable grocery bags and paper straws are championed as small steps you can take to reduce your impact. but, the impact of period products is talked about far less. 

the stigma surrounding periods for generations has contributed to both the impacts of menstrual waste and the fact that they are only recently coming to light. as an example, experts point to the extra plastic wrappers that tampons have, designed specifically to open without making any noise and keep your period a secret from (heaven forbid!) your stall-neighbor in a public restroom. 

luckily, we are beginning to shed the stigma around menstruation and shine a light on period care sustainability. new companies have stepped up to give eco-conscious menstruators some options. here are five brands that take five unique approaches to make periods greener…

1. natracare 

natracare gets the very first spot on this list because it created the world’s first-ever organic cotton tampon. 

statistics from their website explain how one pack of pads is equivalent in plastic content to four grocery bags. their mission since founding in 1989 has been to prevent this kind of waste by providing pads and tampons that are made from sustainably sourced materials. all of their products became completely compostable and plastic-free in 1995. 

2. dame 

dame, a u.k. based company whose motto is “bleed red, think green,” created the first-ever reusable tampon applicator. their product is ideal for the user who is attached to tampons and the comfort of a smooth applicator, but not to plastic waste. dame’s reusable applicator can be loaded with a tampon, used, and then rinsed off and stored until you need it again. 

a 2020 impact report published on their website claims their products have already saved 2.5 million plastic applicators from being thrown in the trash. as a bonus, the company boasts a carbon-negative certification. for every one metric ton of carbon dame emits, two more metric tons are offset. 

3. aisle

if you purchase pads regularly, a reusable cloth option may be the best bet to become more sustainable. aisle (formerly known as luna pads) is a company that sells a variety of period products including cloth pads. according to their website, thanks to the reusable aisle products purchased so far, more than 639,000 pounds of carbon which would have been used to produce disposable period products, have been avoided. aisle calculated this number using greenstory, a company focused on analyzing sustainability.

4. organicup

yet another approach to the green period problem, is replacing tampons and pads altogether with a menstrual cup. according to organicup’s website, their menstrual cup model lasts for up to two years. on average organicup calculated that this is equivalent to the use and disposal of 528 pads or tampons.

5. thinx

a final option, that eliminates the need for pads and any type of insertion, is period underwear. thinx is one company that has developed underpants designed to absorb period blood. their underwear options range from light absorbency to a super absorbency option that can hold up to 36 ml of blood, the equivalent of four regular tampons.

i stumbled upon this story by accident. i’m a student at suny esf, and i participated in a job shadow program over winter break. i signed up to shadow the lead environmental educator at shirley chisholm state park, brooklyn, because it was close to my home in westchester, new york, and had ties to my career path. 

i never imagined that after dodging new york city traffic for over two hours, that i was driving towards one of the most inspirational environments i had ever seen. built on top of the old pennsylvania and fountain landfills, shirley chisholm state park was only opened in summer of 2019, and the park is a wide expanse of grasses and shoreline that has stolen the hearts of environmentalists and community activists. 

to me, building a park on old landfills is a revolutionary idea. when the landfills were closed, the area was repurposed through a number of steps including the installation of an impermeable plastic cap, and a gas piping system. then around a million cubic yards of soil was spread on top of the site, on top of which native plants were planted to prevent erosion. 

someone asked me once if it was offensive to name a park built on top of landfills after an african american congresswoman, and although i understand where they are coming from, i would have to say no. shirley chisholm was the first african american woman to ever be elected to congress, and to run for president of the united states from either party. she was a leader who deserves to be remembered in such a beautiful and inspiring way as to have a revolutionary park named in her honor. 

i highly encourage everyone to visit the park. it has something for everyone, such as the shirley chisholm state park bike library. this is a system for free loaner bikes for any park-goers. there are also areas for fishing and birding on the shorefront, in addition to a wide range of educational hikes and activities offered by the park staff. with nearly 10 miles of biking and hiking trails, it’s easy to forget the park’s proximity to new york city. the paved paths and abundance of seating makes the park easily accessible to visitors of all ages and abilities. 

some things you might want to know before going are that there are a few rules, such as properly disposing of waste, plus no smoking, grilling, or fires. because the environment is so new at the park, staff has asked that all pets are left at home, and that the wildlife found there are not fed. 

but you don’t have to go to the park in order to understand what it can mean for society. it’s a unique connection between history, the environment, and the surrounding community. 

is this the future of how we build the environment, and could everyone have access to a park like this? is this how nature, culture, and society come together? 

it’s located at 1750 pennsylvania ave., brooklyn, n.y. and after years of anticipation, shirley chisholm state park is now open 365 days per year, 9 a.m. to dusk. you can find more information on shirley chisholm state park at parks.ny.gov. 

as of late, the word is that glass bottle beach is a great place to spend your sunday afternoon collecting vintage glass, or even just as a place for a casual stroll along the brooklyn coastline. in the words of a headline from a popular online newsletter  “the new yorker,” glass bottle beach is a treasure trove. yes, us humans are looking towards this pile of trash a place to find treasure. what does that say about the values of our society? 

the way we speak about certain things can often weigh heavy into how we perceive those particular things, and even further, may reflect how we treat them. in the case of glass bottle beach, unfortunately i don’t see the garbage going anywhere any time soon. but i do see the conversation surrounding it, changing. 

just as my friend suggested to me that one day— to check out glass bottle beach because it’s “cool,” i do the same to you. i suggest that you go, but go with a critical eye. i suggest you go for a walk along the polluted coastline with a loved one, and wonder about where the trash will end up after the next few waves wash it away. allow your visit to glass bottle beach be a wake-up call to how much waste you produce, because we all have a part in this, you just have to play it.

our environmental club decided to sell reusable water bottles with our school symbol on them along with a quote by chief seattle, saying, “the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.” our goal in doing this was to appeal to people’s school spirit, provide a short quote that might inspire people to question their assumptions have about how we should treat the earth, and entice people to stop throwing away so many water bottles by providing them with a reusable bottle.

we took the project a step further by using the profits from our water bottle sales to install a water-bottle refilling station on one of the school water fountains, which made it easier for people to refill—and therefore reuse—their water bottles. fortuitously, our project ended up dovetailing with a local hospital project, which was trying to reduce how much soda people were consuming. the hospital helped provide the funds to install more refilling stations in the school in order to encourage people to drink water instead of soda.

ultimately, two groups with completely different end goals—reducing waste and reducing sugar intake—were able to use identical means to reach their goals. my takeaway from this experience was that finding unlikely people or corporations to collaborate with can be very valuable, and the final objectives of the two partners don’t have to be the same in order to make great changes together.

in what other circumstances might we be able to unite in collective action to achieve a variety of goals? 

about to take a bite, you suddenly stop yourself and set your fork down. you can’t believe you almost ruined such a delicious looking presentation before taking a picture for instagram! the next few minutes are filled with  #noms #foodporn #yumm, tagging friends, and choosing that perfect filter before clicking share and finally getting to taste your meal.

instagram’s most recent user statistics reveal that the network is bombarded with upwards of 40 million photos every day. with hundreds of different hashtags that could be used on food related images, it is hard to track just how many photos have food related content. #foodporn is hashtagged on over 37 million instagram photos and #food is linked to more than 132 million photos as of oct. 2014.

social media has become the place for people to share what’s on their plate. we show the world what we’re eating, where we went, with who and every detail of the experience. every time we get a uniquely presented meal at a restaurant, finish cooking an intricate recipe, or even if we just pick up a bagel and coffee on the way to work, we want people to know about it.

eating has always been a traditionally communal event, religious ceremonies, holidays, celebrations, and even funerals are intertwined with specific foods and traditions. social media outlets like instagram give us a way to preserve that sense of community while we, as a society, rush through daily life often not finding time for sit-down meals and face-to-face communication. food is something that everyone has in common. we all have favorite foods and restaurants, things we want to try, and goals for our eating habits, which is why food related content on social media sites is so popular. a 2011 study found that nearly half of online adults say that they learn about food and restaurants via social networks. we have become so ingrained to share everything we do on social media, especially when it comes to food, that people have even started sharing images of food waste!

food packaging and waste account for 49% of litter. jeff kirschner decided to combine litter pick up and awareness with our social media food sharing obsession, and founded litterati in september 2012 with the hopes of cleaning up the streets and sparking a conversation about how we think about trash. litterati created a new activity for food-instagrammers, encouraging them to act when they see a piece of litter. they take a photo of the trash and share it on instagram with the hashtag #litterati. then, they pick it up and put it into a trash can or recycling bin.

the project uses instagram and the popularity of food related posts, coupled with geotagging and an element of competition, as tools to create a movement for crowd-sourced litter disposal. interactive maps document our impact on the planet and, by searching images with this hashtag, we can see just how pervasive food packaging is when it comes to litter. kirschner shares with talking good his hopes that the litterati movement will help draw attention to food waste, make consumers more mindful so that they actually ‘see’ packaging as a precursor to litter, and notice how we don’t just waste food, we carelessly toss things related to food all over our cities and streets.

in the two years since its start, litterati has been tagged in almost 73,000 photos containing litter in over 40 countries, and continues to gain momentum as the hashtag becomes more popular. partnerships with local whole foods, the california coastal commission, and the national resources defense council have been raising litterati awareness by promoting instagram competitions and offering free goodies and prizes for participants.

litterati has all the ingredients to become a trending social media campaign, with the potential to create an online movement that can gradually make a big dent in the vexing litter problem. as i scroll through my instagram feed, seeing hundreds of dinner plates and starbucks mugs, i can’t help but have the urge to break it up with a crumpled receipt or a discarded soda can off the street. next time i see a piece of trash not only will i pick it up, but i will be thinking of a creative angle to capture that perfect instagram picture.

megan varner is a junior studying journalism and mass communication at the george washington university.

latest #litterati posts

local governments have teamed up with project for pride in living (ppl) on a major recycling project to salvage materials of value and to boost employment in tough economic times. since 2009 ppl has recycled approximately 2.5 million tons of mattress material on top of electronics, plastics, and batteries.

ppl works to help ex-prisoners integrate into the minnesota economy by providing job-training and housing access.

don’t throw them away, says frank grazzini of eversafe recycling. there are some hazardous chemicals in many consumer electronics that should be processed. plus, some of the precious metals and plastics, in circuit boards for example, can be melted and reused.
frank showed us around his shop where he dismantles equipment before sending it back into the manufacturing stream.

learn more about innovative waste management programs from the clinton climate initiative.