When Equality Meets Ecology: Free, Reusable Pads Here

In a first, Spain’s Catalonia region is offering reusable menstruation products for free.

“We are fighting menstrual poverty, which affects one in four women in Catalonia, but [it] is also about gender justice. We are fighting the stereotypes and taboos about menstruation,” says Tània Verge, Catalonia’s regional minister for equality and feminism. “And it is about climate justice. We need to reduce the tons of waste generated by single-use menstrual products.”

About 2.5 million people will benefit from the new program: each receiving one menstrual cup, one pair of period underwear, and two packages of cloth pads from their local pharmacy. Not only is the project aimed at fighting period poverty and gender injustices, but it is also reducing waste. The Catalonia region alone produces about 9,000 tons of waste from single-use menstrual hygiene products. Though the region is not the first to pass a law ensuring the free availability of menstruation products – Scotland passed a similar law in 2020 – it is the first to make these more eco-friendly and reusable period products free. What’s more, last year, Spain’s national government passed a law allowing women with debilitating menstrual pain the right to paid medical leave.