Essex CEO calls for more education on reusable period products in schools
Lauren Derrett's launched a petition
A woman from Essex, who founded a reusable period brand, has launched a petition to try and get the government to educate girls at a younger age about their menstruation options.
Lauren Derrett, founder of Wear 'Em Out, reached 1,000 signatures in the first 48 hours of her petition launching. With 10,000, the government will need to address it.
Lauren's campaigning for change after her brand conducted a survey, which found that 2 out of 5 (40.83%) of us learnt about periods at school, with over a third (34%) learning about types of protection at senior school.
The figures also revealed that just 44% of schools and education institutions offering free period products bought environmentally friendly or reusable products in 2022.
Lauren told Greatest Hits Radio it's essential children are educated early.
"It's the topic where you're very vulnerable when you're having this conversation at the age of 10 or 11. So whatever you're told by your caregivers, that's your gospel, that's what you land on.
"It's very hard to undress that psychology around, you know, when you start becoming aware, our survey says around 31 years old, you start thinking oh actually maybe these products are having a negative impact on my health and the planetary health to undo all of that trust and confidence that you've been built in, not only your caregivers who have educated you, but the products itself, it's really hard.
"If we have those conversations really early on, a lot more people will be using reusables a lot more earlier than waiting until they get to 31 and realising that that's actually how they want to manage their periods. That's why it's so important that we started in schools and I have to say as well, I hear from a lot of teachers who have taken it upon themselves to teach their classes and bringing in their own reusables and stuff. So it is happening, but it's not mandatory."
"Blindly, we're handed these products. This is what you use for your period. We're not actually told that this other options or that they're there may be some consequence to the products that we're using. And when you consider it's basically half of your lifetime and half of the UK population, this conversation really needs to be had and the point of the petition is, is that we need to be having it."
Wear 'Em Out survey findings
The survey from Wear 'Em Out found:
• 2 out of 5 (40.83%) of us learnt about periods at school, with over a third (34%) learning about types of protection at senior school
• 44% of schools and education institutions offering free period products bought environmentally friendly or reusable products in 2022
• Most people are aged between 31-40 years old when they make the switch to reusables, with many stating they weren’t even aware of the option prior to this age
• Half of the people who period in the UK uses disposable products, leading to 1.5-2 billion menstrual items being flushed down Britain's toilets each year
Lauren's hoping that the Government will realise the impact they can have in helping to educate young girls.
"Whether you use period products or not, this does affect everybody long term. It affects our planet and the way that we all live and work together.
"We're asking the government that they make it mandatory so that in sex Ed classes, these children aren't just being offered a tampon or a disposable pad as an option to manage their menstruation and that they get informed around all the products available to them, whether they're the reusable pants or pads or menstrual cups and why that they might want to choose an alternative to the disposable product."
Environmental damage
Lauren also spoke of the damaging affects that reusable products can have on our environment and our planet, and how these need to be addressed.
"I don't remember being told to that you can't flush them and it's not made clear on any of the packaging that these disposals can't be flushed.
"They're made using 90% single use plastic that will take up to 800 years to breakdown anywhere on landfill, whether they're being found in the sea of which 4.8 pieces of menstrual waste is being found per 100 metres of British beaches being cleaned. So the flushing thing is such a huge problem.
"People you don't have to be a reusable wearer to understand this, and it's not just period products. It's wet wipes, it's contact lenses, cotton buds, all these unflushables that need to be dealt with. It's a huge problem. So even just getting that message across that don't flush them at the very least is is it really important."
Hoping for change
Wear 'Em Out and Lauren understand that there is a need for disposable products, saying the period poverty does exist and there are cases where they are definitely needed, but wants people to be able to be educated and to have the choice themselves.
Lauren's main hope from the petition is that it sparks thoughts.
"Ideally I would really like the government to think 'oh actually this is something we haven't visited visited in a very long time', for them to think actually this is having a huge impact on our planet and the way that our population periods and the effects that it's having on hormonal shifts and things like that.
"I know it won't be the top of everybody's agenda, but when they look at all the stats and figures, hopefully we can move on from this kind of prehistoric, here's a tampon, 'here's a disposable pad', and start educating properly around how you can manage your periods and all the available options."
The link to Lauren and Wear 'Em Out's petition can be found here.