Keep up the Pressure – Government are listening!

Thanks to your support our latest petition calling on the government to only send plastic-free period products to schools is already having an impact.

When we first wrote to the Department of Education with this ask they responded saying:

“We are working to explore whether environmentally friendly products and sustainable products can be integrated into the period product scheme and further details of the scheme will be announced in due course.”

Now more than 30,000 of you have signed our petition and the government are taking notice. In a recent article from Schools Week the Department for Education responded to our concerns, saying that the successful bidder “will be required to offer environmentally-friendly sanitary pads as a minimum, and are encouraged to provide further environmentally-friendly options (such as menstrual cups or eco-friendly tampons)”.

We want to clarify that ‘environmentally-friendly’ includes plastic-free requirements and ensure that all disposable products offered are plastic-free, not just pads, and not just as an opt-in. This is vital to ensure that government don’t flood the school system with the equivalent of 90 million plastic bags, after having just challenged them to go plastic-free by 2022!

We want to hit 50,000 before the government tender for school period products closes, so please keep up the pressure and keep sharing the petition. Your action is making a difference!