Millions of us use tampons, yet most contain plastic, glues, dyes and toxins. Needless to say they have a harmful effect on our environment, and our vaginas. At DAME we believe women and the planet deserve the best eco friendly tampons and period products. Our eco friendly tampons are made from 100% organic cotton and our award winning reusable tampon applicator can help save thousands of pieces of plastic.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE ECO FRIENDLY TAMPONS?
100% Organic Cotton
Cotton is the most commonly used fibre on the planet. As a result it’s often grown in heavily intensive ways, pumped with water and pesticides on fragile soils. In fact non organic cotton production accounts for 16% of global insecticide use. This disrupts and pollutes local water supplies, air quality and ecosystems, creating a harmful environment for farm workers, local populations and surrounding wildlife.
Why add fuel to such an unsustainable fire, when we can do better? At DAME, we make our eco tampons using only 100% organic cotton from Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) certified farms. Here sustainable, pesticide free practices are prioritised, and Mother Nature’s natural rhythm is respected. So there’s less damage to soil quality, close to 88% less water usage and nearly 62% less energy consumption.
By using only organic cotton, it means that our eco friendly tampons are completely free from pesky pesticide trace elements often found in non-organic cotton tampons. And let’s face it, no one fancies pesticides in their vagina, especially when vaginas are one of the most absorbent parts of a woman’s body. Considering the average woman wears a tampon for a cumulative 7.5 years of her life, vaginas are better off without pesticide filled tampons , thank you very much.
Reducing Period Plastic
When it comes to offering eco friendly tampons, it’s not just about the cotton. Plastic is a pretty big deal to us too. Period plastic is now the fifth most common type of plastic to wash up on our beaches, which isn’t surprising when you think that 100 billion period products are thrown away around the world every year.
Tampons are a big part of the plastic problem. First up you’ve got tampon applicators. In the UK 80% of tampon users rely on tampon applicators for comfort and convenience, but to date the only choice has only been single-use, largely plastic applicators (even the cardboard ones are often lined with plastic). Each applicator is used for a matter of seconds, yet once discarded, remains on our planet for centuries. In the UK we now throw away 1.3 billion tampon applicators every single year.
But that’s not it. You’ve then got the tampons themselves. It’s easy to assume that all tampons are made from pure, natural cotton, but sadly that isn’t the case. Most tampons are a mix of synthetics including rayon, bleach, dyes, glues and plastics like polyester.
The string on your tampon? That’s often plastic. The covering around your tampon? Mostly plastic too. And don’t be fooled by those brands that advertise an ‘organic core’. The outer layers are still synthetic. Just like plastic bags or straws, these synthetic materials take hundreds of years to break down into microplastics and toxic particles that infiltrate our food chains, poison wildlife and pollute our planet.
Fortunately not all tampons are created equal. Like ours. We’ve created the world’s first eco friendly tampon applicator - it works just like a normal applicator, but you reuse it. It’s smooth, simple to use and fits every tampon size, so you can have a comfortable period without the waste. Making the simple swap to our eco friendly tampon applicator can save you 12,000 single-use applicators over your lifetime: the equivalent of a minibus worth of period plastic.
And when it comes to our eco tampons, ours contain zero synthetics or plastics. They’re made from 100% natural, organic cotton fibres and absolutely nothing else.
Fully Biodegradable Tampons
As a result of making our eco tampons from only natural cotton, it means they’re fully biodegradable. After use, you can simply throw them in the bin and they will return to nature, safe in the knowledge that your used tampon isn’t leaching any nasty chemicals or plastic particles into the ground. Got a home composting bin in your garden? You could even pop your used eco friendly tampons in there.
Just whatever you do, please don’t flush tampons down the loo. Even though we offer eco friendly tampons, they’re still not made for sewage systems. Every year in the UK, a mind blowing 2.5 million tampons are flushed down our toilets where they get tangled up with all the other unflushable items that people feel the need to chuck down the loo. As a result millions of pounds are spent by our water networks addressing major blockages and damages. If it’s not toilet paper, don’t flush it.
