Letter Asking for Sustainable Period Products

Good Afternoon,

I'm a 34-year-old woman who has been using Tampax products since I started my period in junior high. This year, I resolved to cut down on the amount of waste I send to landfills and realized that period waste is one of my bigger bathroom trash contributions. That inspired me to a do a little research, where I found out that an estimated 20 billion pads, tampons, and applicators end up in North American landfills every year.

I've always known that the tampon wrapper and applicator were plastic, but didn't realize until this week that the tampon itself has synthetic materials mixed in with the cotton, making it another part of the waste problem. As you know, these products are not typically recyclable and they definitely aren't biodegradable, which means they'll be in our landfills for hundreds of years. Another problem I've seen pop up is that these products are just the right size to fall through the cracks and end up in our oceans and waterways. Plastics are often mistaken for food by ocean life, and it's beginning to take a toll on marine habitats.

I'm writing in hopes that Tampax will make an effort to improve its sustainability. By reducing, and ultimately eliminating, plastic products you could reduce so much landfill bound period waste. This could be achieved by focusing on sustainable packaging/applicators or even offering a recycling program for period specific products. The planet and our environment require a collective effort to slow down global warming, so while I work on ways to reduce my individual waste, I hope you'll consider ways to reduce a much larger scale of period waste.

There are already companies like GladRags, Thinx, and Saalt that have proven sustainable period products not only work, but are a growing trend. So, I'm certain your consumers would greatly appreciate any effort towards a more sustainable future.

Thank you for you time,

Alexandra Hall