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If you're one of the many women who use sanitary towels, you might be wondering what happens after you throw them away?

Most people know that used sanitary towels are typically incinerated or buried in a landfill, but there's a third option—energy recovery. Recycling your used sanitary towels can better the environment and your wallet. Let's look at why an energy recovery is an option and how it works.

What Are We Wearing?

No matter how hard you try to hide them, used sanitary towels will eventually come out of hiding. You'll need to do something with them—but what? Since most women change their pads twice a day, that adds up to almost two pounds of used tampons and sanitary towels thrown into landfills each year in North America alone.

Here are a few surprising facts about feminine hygiene waste:

  • 70 percent of women say they use tampons, even though menstrual cups are readily available online or in drugstores.
  • The average woman will use 17,000-19,000 tampons or pads over her lifetime—which means we're filling up precious landfill space as fast as we can fill our periods with unnecessary waste.

Rethinking the Menstrual Cycle

Many people don't know that sanitary towels and tampons have their roots in a plant-based material called cotton. Traditionally, women would use absorbent cloths made from natural fibers such as cotton, flax, or hemp. The most popular options were pieces of wool or flannel tied around their underwear with a ribbon to stop blood from leaking onto their clothes.

Today, we have more sophisticated materials for these products, but many still ask about where used sanitary towels go. It's a great question because although reusable alternatives are now available, sanitary towels and tampons still contribute to 30% of all waste found on UK beaches. Women will throw away an average of 240 disposable products over their lifetime – that's 480 pounds!

What are we Teaching Our Daughters?

It's no secret that many women in developing countries have to deal with a lack of access to feminine hygiene products. What might not be as clear is what that means for these girls and everyone else. Simply put, access to sanitary products is a matter of human rights.

When girls and women don't have access to tampons and pads when they need them, it has severe implications for their education, employment prospects, financial security, and overall physical and mental well—being. The good news is there are simple ways we can help change that. By buying sanitary towels made from sustainable materials, we can help ensure that our daughters never choose between being clean and employed.

Sustainability

There are many reasons why people prefer to use reusable sanitary towels, including environmental and economic ones. For example, you'll reduce your carbon footprint by using a washable product and can save money by switching from disposable ones. However, if you're looking to go greener with your period products, one of the first steps is choosing how you want to dispose of them. There are many misconceptions around what happens with used tampons or pads; let's bust some myths here! Indeed, you should never flush them down the toilet.

Tampons and pads aren't biodegradable, meaning they don't break down easily in water. Instead, it could cause blockages in your plumbing system and harm marine life in rivers and oceans. The best way to dispose of them is through composting or in a sanitary bin at home or work—it's good for both humans and nature!

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