A Study into Public Awareness of the Environmental Impact of Menstrual Products and Product Choice

Elizabeth Peberdy, Aled Jones and Dannielle Green
Additional contact information
Elizabeth Peberdy: Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB2 1PT, UK
Aled Jones: Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB2 1PT, UK
Dannielle Green: Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB2 1PT, UK

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: This paper explores the level of awareness people have about the environmental impact of menstrual products. Currently the most popular types of product are also the most detrimental to the natural environment, particularly due to the amount of hidden plastic in disposable items. This research seeks to find out whether people realize that this is the case and whether those that are more aware of the damage are likely to make choices that are less harmful to the environment. A mixed method approach was taken, using online surveys and focus groups. The results of the study show that most participants were not aware at the amount of plastic in disposable menstrual products, and that there are other issues linked to their environmental impact that people are generally not aware of. Some participants were more aware of the issues than others and the research suggests that those with a higher awareness are more likely to choose products that are less harmful to the environment. Based on these findings, future actions and areas of further research are suggested.

Keywords: single use plastics; menstrual products; environmental impact; consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/473/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/473/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:473-:d:198527

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().