Plastic Free Schools Need Plastic Free Periods

After sustained pressure from brilliant campaigners, the UK government announced in March 2019 that it would begin providing period products for free in English primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. We celebrated this as a huge step in the right direction. Yet when the government issued their tender to provide these products they made no mention of plastic-free products, potentially causing one problem (plastic waste) whilst solving another (period poverty). After efforts from our friends at City to Sea and others, including MP Caroline Lucas, an amendment was added to the tender. To ensure the amendment wasn’t ignored DAME teamed up with environmental charities including City to Sea, campaigner Ella Daish, The Cup Effect, Bloody Good Period, and sustainable brands WUKA and Natracare to demand that the Department of Education provide plastic-free period products in an open letter published in the London Evening Standard, uniting would-be competitors behind a common goal. Decisions like these normally happen behind closed doors, and go completely unnoticed by the public. We are proud that we helped bring this issue into public discourse, with journalists picking up the story after our letter was published. As a result of our pressure DAME was invited to join the UK Government’s Period Poverty Taskforce Steering Group and in 2020 we will continue to use our influence as a business to advocate for better policies and government action ensuring women are given the choice to have more positive periods.