Hash celebrates her waste-free period/s

I have embarked on a quest to minimise the trash that I generate and I am grateful to Lauren for inspiring me to do so! My most successful experiment so far has been with my menstrual waste. The packaging, the strips covering the glue and of course, the blood-soaked non-biodegradable pads that I had mindlessly tossed into the dustbin for a decade, began annoying me and I felt the need to do something about it.

I started by using the menstrual cup. In my earlier blogpost, I had described my adventures or rather my misadventures of getting used to the cup. I have become an avid cup-ninja of late, using it in public restrooms as well. Being extremely pro-cup, I have enthusiastically tried talking other people into using it. Some have obliged, but most find it icky and gross – something I fail to understand. Isn’t your trash that is going to sit on the earth long after you’ve gone, more revolting?  You insert it, wait for it to fill, empty the blood and put it back in. It is zero-waste and you can use the same cup for years. Isn’t that so wonderful?

Okay okay I get it! Sometimes it is not as wonderful and Hash feels lazy to use the cup too. When I am too sleepy and don’t have the patience to flex my muscles and make place for the cup or if the area feels sore for having supported an external device for too long, I switch to cloth pads. The cloth pads also come in handy when I’m travelling, especially on Indian trains. There is a high probability of the cup falling onto the tracks, if one is not careful and doesn’t maintain a balanced stance. 

The cloth pads I use are from an eco-friendly social enterprise and are made of organic cotton, they are bright and colourful and are a pleasure to use. I use them along with the cup sometimes, not because I fear the ridicule of staining my clothes (there is nothing to be ashamed of, it is a natural process and we must celebrate it) but more to avoid additional laundry loads. Menstrual cups only leak when they are full and can hold no more blood. You get used to this in a while, understanding your flow and emptying the cup just in time. Once the pad has done its job, I soak it for a few hours and wash it with castille soap. In an attempt to make my period zero-waste, I pour the water used for soaking and washing into my lawn. The cloth pads come in recyclable packaging and last for a few years if maintained the right way.

So this is my eco-friendly period hack. By using the cup along with cloth pads, I am able to to enjoy  safe and waste-free periods.

harshitaAuthor: Harshita Mehta

Harshita is free spirited lass with a love for bright colours and Wodehousian humour. She has written another equally fun and informative article on menstrual cups that can be found here.

Edited by – Divya Rosaline

Illustration by Aditi Gupta.

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