Traditional menstrual products, like pads and tampons, often contain plastic and contribute significantly to landfill waste. In contrast, eco-friendly period products offer a sustainable alternative that benefits both the planet and your well-being. Let's explore the advantages of switching to sustainable menstrual products and how they can make a positive difference.

As with all of nature’s cycles, change is inevitable. Today we are honouring a once-in-a-lifetime transition in the Lunapads/Aisle story: our groundbreaking co-founders Madeleine Shaw and Suzanne Siemens are moving on from the company’s operations.

Plastics have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from everyday items like takeout containers to shampoo/soap bottles to regularly used essentials like period products. As responsible inhabitants of this planet, it is crucial for us to comprehend the profound impact of plastics on our environment. 

Most approaches to period poverty understandably focus on short-term, urgent needs, for example students in schools, or employees in workplaces. But the bigger-picture solution is not just having more pads and tampons in more bathrooms.

 

Yvon Chouinard’s recent decision to essentially gift his $3 Billion company’s shares to fight climate change is a seismic move that flies in the face of traditional capitalist business values. At a time in the world where wealth disparity has never been more radical and grossly unfair, Chouinard’s generosity is glaring and unparalleled.

The growth of the reusable menstrual care industry is seeing a classic business trend common in the apparel industry: new entrants making low-quality goods, looking to jump on the bandwagon of a hot product category to attract customers and cash in.

On the face of it, lower-cost products seem like a good thing, but we need to ask what the true impact of this is: who actually loses in this situation?

At Aisle, our dedication to quality, sustainability and product safety border on being obsessive. In fact, the company was originally founded to create products that were free of allergens, bleaches and other irritants. The explosive popularity of reusable menstrual products in recent years has led to concern around the presence of PFAS in period underwear. Let’s take a closer look.

Planet-Positive Periods is the outcome of a new and powerful creative partnership between Aisle, Green Periods and PERIOD. We are thrilled with this new suite of up-to-the-minute research and resources about sustainability and menstruation, all in a free, open-source format available to anyone.

Living in an era of climate emergency, we all want to do what we can to make a difference. However, as consumers it can be challenging to identify greenwashing (false implied claims about sustainability) or which choices are more truly green than others. 

Aisle has never been a traditional business. 

Since 1993, when we created the first groundbreaking collection of professionally made cloth menstrual pads and period underwear, Aisle has put people and impact first.

Sustainability and transparency are two important value pillars for Aisle. While many of our efforts are ongoing (such as our commitment to being a top ranked B Corp and conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of our products’ environmental impacts) we also do an annual Impact Report, which includes our social impact and menstrual equity projects.

It’s time for all initiatives of all sizes to prioritize tackling social and environmental issues as their primary raison d’être.