Menstrual products: A comparable Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to provide a guide for environmentally-friendly menstrual product options for industry, governmental policy makers and consumers. We present the results of comparative analyses of such products—disposable nonorganic and organic tampons (with applicators) and pads, reusable pads, underwear and cups—used for one year across eight environmental impact indicators and three countries, France, India and the U.S. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to estimate the environmental impacts accounting for the entire life cycle beginning with the production of the components and ending with their disposal. Varying consumer habits in the considered countries led to differences in the environmental impacts between countries. Menstrual cups have the lowest impact score across all indicators and countries, with a score 99% lower than those for disposable nonorganic tampons. Menstrual underwear ranked second, given their double functions as underwear and menstrual absorbent. Reusable pads ranked third lowest. Somewhat surprisingly, organic disposable pads had higher scores than their nonorganic counterparts for the majority of indicators. For more realistic use scenarios, we explored combinations of two products (one internal and one external). Menstrual cups in combination with underwear had the lowest scores across all indicators and countries. • Reusable menstrual products have significantly lower environmental impacts than disposable ones. • Disposable organic products have higher environmental impacts than nonorganic ones. • Combining two products (internal and external) ensures more realistic results. • Country-specific behaviors influence environmental impact estimates.