The Environmenstrual Campaign

Welcome to #PeriodsWithoutPlastic Environmenstrual Campaign!

Will you help Women's Environmental Network  raise £10,000?

#PeriodsWithoutPlastic is aiming to lead a UK revolution for healthy, eco-friendly menstrual products.  To make it a success we need to raise £10,000 with a dream target of £18,000.  

So What's the problem?

 In a nutshell: Plastic, Waste, Health and Education:

• Plastic

  In the UK the average menstruator uses over 11,000 disposable menstrual products in a lifetime – that’s a bus load of waste from just one person!  We want manufacturers to remove the plastic to make menstrual products bio-degradable. 

• Waste 

  Up to 2 billion menstrual items are flushed down the loo each year, causing massive sewage problems – remember the Whitechapel fatberg? – we want all menstrual products disposed of appropriately.

• Health 

  The majority of conventional menstrual products are non organic cotton and contain plastic – many of which are harmful to our health and the planet.  We want healthy, safe and affordable products that are widely available. 

• Education

  There is little awareness around reusable and organic menstrual products in period education programmes, especially in schools.  Most education is carried out by big brands marketing their products, with little regard to our health and the planet.   We want a balanced education giving people an informed choice when managing their periods.

How do we solve it?

 Our environmenstrual campaign is multi-faceted but we are crowdfuding for these two key areas:

Environmenstrual Workshop Programme

We plan to launch an Environmenstrual Workshop programme in schools and universities across the UK. We are going to train people to become Environmenstrual Ambassadors that you too can be part of.  We will design an Environmenstrual Toolkit that can be used as a resource by schools free of charge.  We aim to create an information pack available for everyone to access to make a truly informed choice.

Our Environmenstrual workshops are informative, interactive and fun.  We explore the pros and cons of disposable and reusable menstrual products including the health and environmental impacts.  This enables participants to make an informed choice of which menstrual products to use.  Participants can become Environmenstrual Ambassadors to help spread the word, using our Environmenstrual Toolkits (keep checking back for details) and can get involved in the Environmenstrual Week of Action. 

Coalition and Week of Action

We are coordinating a coalition of organisations and businesses to come together in a Week of Action 

The Environmenstrual Week of Action will bring together a cohort of eco-menstrual organisations, companies, menstrual artists and activists across the UK to showcase Environmenstrual with the overall aim to educate the general public about the issues with non-organic disposable menstrual products and amplify the environmental messaging on sustainable menstruation.  Activities for the Week of Action will include creative pop-up events, informational & DIY workshops, film screenings, and more.

Other areas of the campaign include:

With the support of our generous backers - we'll be able to expand our tailored workshop programme to reach thousands more women and girls, and make the Week of Action a reality for all people who menstruate! 

Find out why Julia Bradbury, TV presenter & Co-founder of The Outdoor Guide is supporting #PeriodsWithoutPlastic Environmenstrual Campaign:

What rewards can I get?

 Crowdfunder rewards:

Below is a list of rewards with a brief summary. Have a look and once you have found 'the one', head to the right-hand side of this page, click it and you're halfway there. 

Expected Delivery: You will notice on all the rewards that we have stated that the expected delivery is September. This gives us plenty of time to deliver on time (the last thing we want to do is have you waiting). As soon as this campaigns finishes we will be working round the clock to get all rewards out the door and delivered to you (September is worst case).

#1Pattern to make reusable pad (downloadable PDF).....£10

#2 1 box of organic tampons (16) by OHNE.....£10

#3 Loo Sticker & thank you card.....£15

(New design in progress)

#4  Divine Chocolate "Empowering Women" bar & thank you card.....£20

 #5 OrganiCup, Menstrual Cup .......... £20

#6 Fruit Beauty recipe book and thank you card.....£20

#7 WEN Bag & copy of Fruity Beauty recipe book.....£25

#8 Organic & Fair Trade Knickers by Project Pico & Natracare Sample pack....£25

#9 Why Women Will Save the Planet book – 1st edition and thank you card .....£30

#10 Be Kinder to Your Vagina bundle - tote bag, mirror and tampons from TOTM ...£30

#11 Goodie bag SILVER - Natracare sample box, Weleda skincare products & loo sticker.....£30

#12 Ticket to WEN Film Club of your choice plus goodie bag on the evening.....£40

#13 Ticket to WEN Forum for 2 plus goodie bag on the evening.....£50

#14 Just launched - Why Women Will Save the Planet book - 2nd edition & thank you card.....£50

#15 Goodie Bag GOLD: Mooncup and Natracare sample pack, Weleda skincare products & Divine Chocolate.....£100

#16 Clean Beauty Goodie Bag ( selection of Weleda products).....£100

#17 WEN Membership for one year plus goodie bag.....£125

#18 Goodie Bag PLATINUM: WUKA reusable period underwear, reusable pad, Natracare sample pack, Weleda skincare products  & Divine Chocolate....£150

#19 Patagonia Rucksack filled with goodies.....£200

#20 Make your own Natural Cosmetics Workshop for 4.  2 hour workshop in Shoreditch, London, E2...£400

#21 Meal for 2 at Riverford at Duke of Cambridge, Organic gastro pub plus Riverford Organic fruit & veg box delivered to your home.....£500

#22 Live Well Cooking Course & tour of gardens for 1.....£500

#23 Bespoke Environmenstrual Workshop delivered at your organisation's offices, school, or university.....£500

#24 WEN Experience - We would like to invite you to an exclusive tour of our community gardens in Tower Hamlets.  You will also see the Live Well Kitchen and can partake in a cooking class too (dates to be confirmed).  You will also receive a VIP invitation for two, to the WEN Forum at the GLA, City Hall hosted by the Environment Committee.   This reward also includes a one year's membership to WEN, so you can be part of our growing network and future campaigns.....£1,000

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Find out more about WEN and its campaigns:

Our ‘Environmenstrual’ Track record:

• WEN was the first UK charity to talk about the health and environmental impacts of disposable menstrual products bolstered by our landmark publication ‘The Sanitary Protection Scandal’ in 1989 
• We initiated the first nationwide ‘Bag it and Bin it’ campaign, to keep menstrual waste from being flushed 
• We founded ‘Real Nappies for London’, the cloth nappy voucher scheme, now commissioned by 7 London boroughs 
• We coined the term ‘Environmenstrual’ to describe our work linking menstrual waste and the environment 
• 3 years of campaigning from WEN resulted in warnings about Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) on tampon packs 

2016+ 

• Our statistics on menstrual waste are regularly quoted by the media, most recently by BBC News (21.11.17) and the Huffington Post(10.03.18) and the Independent (02.03.18)
• We have piloted our Environmenstrual Workshop Programme in schools and universities across the UK with very positive reception
• We organised‘How Periods Can Save the Planet’ WEN Forum event and film screening on International Women’s Day 2017 in London, with speakers from Binti International, Flo tampons, Menstrual Matters and Mooncup 
• We are producing a new edition of our Seeing Red Environmenstrual Briefing 

I want to get involved but I haven't got any money to pledge right now, what can I do?

 You can pledge as little as £5 and it will make a massive difference. However, if you can’t pledge there’s lots more you can do to help:

• You can recommend our project to a friend, or an organisation you believe would benefit from our workshops.
• Sign the Petition to demand that manufacturers to remove plastic from all menstrual products!
• You can join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @wen_uk.
• You can support us with skills and time. We are constantly looking for volunteers to help us. Get in touch let us know that you are keen to volunteer by contacting us at [email protected]).
• You can sign up to our mailing list 

 Most importantly help us empower people who menstruate to make informed choices about their menstrual health by sharing our Crowdfunder page!