Boise State Joins The Menstrual Cup Revolution

Remember the hoarding stage of the pandemic? People were clearing shelves of toilet paper, paper towels, sanitizing wipes, sanitizer, hand soap, pads, tampons, toothpaste, and condoms. (That last one actually made sense.) I remember telling frustrated women in the feminine product aisle who were just trying to get their monthly necessity (only to find them unavailable) to consider the menstrual cup. I'd made the switch a year prior and it was a cost effective solution, especially during a pandemic. I even tweeted "Menstrual cup companies, it's your time to shine!" The truth is, aside from solving the pandemic pad/tampon problem, menstrual cups are also better for the environment.

According to Stanford Magazine, "In the United States alone, approximately 12 billion pads and 7 billion tampons are discarded each year. While many of these products end up in a landfill, others clog sewers or contribute to the staggering amount of plastics in our oceans. Tampon applicators can take over 20 years to break down in marine environments and can be ingested by animals, causing health complications or death." A menstrual cup can exponentially help eliminate all that waste the more women switch to using them.

OrganiCup, a menstrual cup company, aims at fighting the problem with their product. According to their website, use of their cups has the potential of "saving the environment from the packaging and material waste of more than 2400 pads or tampons per user." 

On March 11th, Boise State's Sustainability Committee announced on Instagram they were partnering with OrganiCup to provide free organic menstrual cups to all menstruating students. This is just one more initiative the university is making as it continues its endeavor to be a green campus.

Today they updated students via @sustainableboisestate on Instagram that delivery of the menstrual cups is coming soon, hopefully sparking the switch for more than just students as they share their experiences with friends and families. I'm personally very excited for this, as I've been a cheerleader for menstrual cups for a couple of years now.