Introducing Hey Girls, Eco Period Products Tackling Period Poverty
Eco-friendly Period Products
This week we are welcoming Hey Girls period products to our menstrual product range. Including menstrual cups, period pants, reusable cloth pads and a range of plastic-free disposable period pads and tampons. This exciting social enterprise is changing the lives of thousands of people in need who menstruate, across the UK.
Hey Girls started out as a kitchen table start-up in 2018. The business is a creation of Celia Hodson and her two daughters Kate and Bec. Having experienced period poverty themselves, they based their business model on the principles of ‘buy one, donate one’ with their key aim of fighting period poverty in the UK.
All profits go directly into funding the fight for everyone to experience equal periods. Social and ethical choices are at the heart of everything they do. Here at Babipur we are passionate about dispelling the stigma about periods and supporting the fight against period poverty, so Hey Girls menstrual products are a perfect fit.
Buy one, donate one
Hey Girls is a not-for-profit social enterprise working with a network of 150 organisations to bring better access to environmentally friendly period products to anyone in need. These include women’s refuges, homeless shelters, hospitals and food banks in the UK. Hey Girls believe you shouldn’t have to be facing extreme circumstances to access the basic care you need. Access to period products should be a right, not a privilege.
For every box of Hey Girls you buy, it’s matched by donating a box to one of their community partners. To date over 19 million period products have been donated to people in need. One organisation Hey Girls works with is Freedom 4 Girls. This Leeds-based charity works tirelessly to bring an end to period poverty within their local community, providing education on menstruation, period products, and promoting product choice by supporting environmentally and financially sustainable options.
Period Poverty
Today in the UK, a shocking 1 in 10 people still can’t access or afford period products. This figure is thought to be closer to 1 in 4 people in Scotland. Research from 2018 by Plan International UK in a survey of 1,000 14 to 21 year olds found that:
- One in seven girls (15 per cent) have also struggled to afford sanitary wear
- One in seven girls (14 per cent) have had to ask to borrow sanitary wear from a friend due to affordability issues
- More than one in ten girls (12%) has had to improvise sanitary wear due to affordability issues
- One in five (19%) of girls have changed to a less suitable sanitary product due to cost
Campaigns highlighting period poverty are gaining recognition in the UK. Free period products are now being funded in British schools in England, Scotland and Wales. Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products free for all who need them in 2020.
By increasing access to quality period products it can keep young people in school, college and work. It increases concentration, participation in sports and activities, and improves menstrual health. With women and girls making up the largest percentage of people who menstruate, free period products are helping the fight towards equality. Not only that, but having a readily available source of free period products gives all who menstruate piece of mind. Have you ever been caught out at work, university or away from home? Free period products provide dignity to all those who menstruate.
Plastic Free Period with Hey Girls
The Hey Girls period product range includes both reusable and disposable options, catering to a wide range of needs. All their menstrual products are made from natural materials, including organic cotton, bamboo and corn starch. Moreover, their single-use period pads are entirely free from plastic, unwanted chemicals and are biodegradable and recyclable.
The packaging used within the business is compostable and recyclable, and all components responsibly sourced.
At Hey Girls, they are working towards becoming 100% carbon neutral. Furthermore, 10% of their profits are donated to help restore degraded habitats through Forestry and Landscape Scotland carbon offsetting scheme. They have signed up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, pledging to halve their carbon emissions by 2030 and become net-zero by 2050. This is work in progress, but the thought and consideration to the ethics and sustainability of each step of their business is very positive.
