Plastic Free Periods & World Refill Day
 World Refill Day World Refill Day is a global campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. Single-use plastic is everywhere but one of the biggest uses is for drinks bottles. Here’s a few facts to shock you! Plastic bottles: fast facts A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute. 13 billion plastic bottles are used each year in the UK – this includes all fizzy drinks, milk and toiletry bottles. A shocking 60% of these are water bottles – that’s 7.7 billion bottles that could be easily avoided. If just 1 in 10 Brits refilled their drinks bottles every week, 340 million plastic bottles would be saved every year. Less than 30% of people refill their reusable water bottles, even though we have some of the best quality tap water in the world. Over the last 15 years, the consumption of bottled water has doubled in the UK. Every day in the UK an estimated 700,000 plastic bottles are littered. So join the Refill Revolution and ditch the single use bottles, opting for a reusable alternative instead. Thanks to a fantastic initiative called Refill, topping up your water bottle when out and about is even easier. Refill allows public places – such as cafés, pubs, takeaways and restaurants – to register as Refill Stations that will happily refill your bottle with free tap water on request. They have an app which shows where you can get coffee refills with a discount for bringing your own cup, shops where you can refill your own containers, and lunch venues where you can order to go in your own containers too. There are more than 65 Refill Stations registered in Hertsmere so download the Refill app or keep an eye out for Refill window stickers in around the shops near you.   EVENT: Plastic Free Periods 11am to 1pm Thursday 16 June @ Vimi’s Eco Store, Watling Street, Radlett, WD7 7LA If you’ve ever wondered how period pants work or what exactly a mooncup is, then come along to our Plastic Free Periods event at a wonderful refill shop – Vimi’s Eco Store in Radlett. We will be on hand to chat about everything period related with samples of all the different reusable period products, from period pants and pads to menstrual cups and discs! And Vimi’s Eco Store will be discounting their period cups by 40% on the day! Plus don’t forget to grab your refillable containers as you may as well fill up with anything from nuts and dried mango to hand wash and laundry soap while you’re there! And if you’re still undecided about swapping to reusables have a quick read through these fast facts: It is estimated that between 1.5 -2 billion disposable period products are flushed down toilets each year – 4.6 million every single day! Apart from being harmful to marine life, disposable products flushed down the toilet contribute to another problem – fatbergs. Fatbergs are huge masses of period products, wet wipes, nappies, fats and oils. Every year the UK spends about £100m clearing an estimated 300,000 fatbergs. 10% of sewage related debris on beaches is composed of period pads, liners/backing strips, tampons, and applicators. Switching to reusables means much less waste. Many period products can contain up to 90% fossil-fuel based plastic. Most tampons contain plastic too (not just the applicator but the absorbent part too). Non-organic disposable period products can contain toxic industrial chemicals like BPA, dioxins, pesticides, bleach and fragrances – manufacturers don’t legally have to state what is in their products. During lockdown 30% of girls in the UK aged 14-21 years struggled to afford or access period products. With reusables, they are always available. Each period can cost on average £10, that’s £130 a year and £4940 over a lifetime. In comparison, a menstrual cup costs around £20 and lasts up to 10 years offering an enormous saving. More than 11,000 disposable products are used in a menstruating lifetime – based on an average of 38 years using 22 items of menstrual products per cycle, with 13 cycles per year. |