Why cups?

Did you know that...

sanitary products are one of the biggest unspoken-about pollution problems facing the modern world?

Tampon applicators get flushed down the toilets and end up polluting our beaches.

One in five pieces of plastic on a UK beach is a tampon. In the UK we flush 700,00 panty liners, 2.5 million tampons and 1.4 million pads EVERY SINGLE DAY…. That’s 1.68 billion items every year…just in the UK.

And it’s not just the applicators – most tampons contain plastic (We didn’t know this either until we started doing some research). And the average sanitary pad is made from 90% plastic – the equivalent of about three single-use carrier bags.

Providing plastic-free period products to combat period poverty seems like a golden opportunity to not only lift girls out of embarrassment and shame, but also investing in their future. Ufulu believes that we should all make this a priority.

The average sanitary product is made from 90% plastic. 1 in 5 pieces of plastic on a UK beach is a tampon applicator.
For the price of roughly 4 cups of your favourite coffees or teas, you could gift one ruby cup starter pack for a woman in Africa.
The average woman uses around 10,000 tampons in her lifetime and spends roughly £60 a year.

Whilst on Likoma, Widge went around the island trying to find which shops sold sanitary products and how much they cost. Sadly she only found three shops selling anything and the choice of sanitary products was limited to one type (and size) of pads.

William the owner of a shop on Likoma Island selling sanitary products.

This photo is of one of the shops that do sell pads. A very nice man called William runs the shop. But imagine you are a teenage girl, who has just started her period – you would probably be too shy and embarrassed to come in and purchase what you needed, even if you were able to afford them and therein lies the problem – most females just do not have the money to afford sanitary products.

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