MEXICO CITY — In Mexico City, among the world’s most significant cities, an item that lots of ladies depended on as a regular monthly requirement is slowly vanishing from the racks: tampons with plastic applicators.
With a life-span of almost 150 years, the applicators sign up with plastic bags, forks, cups, balloons and straws as single-use plastics that Mexico City has actually prohibited as it presses forward with a greener program.
Women’s groups, nevertheless, stated the city’s restriction on the applicators is an attack on human rights and produces a phenomenon of “menstrual poverty” due to the fact that alternative items, like natural tampons or silicone menstrual cups, are more pricey and typically difficult to discover.
“A measure that might sound very progressive and well-intentioned with an environmental commitment is neglecting the needs of women,” menstrual activist Sally Santiago informed Reuters.
Mexico’s 126 million individuals produce 6,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year, the federal government stated. The city’s plastics restriction has actually likewise triggered debate from markets that produce now-prohibited products. Producers argued that items ought to be managed, however not prohibited.
Mexico City Environment Minister Marina Robles acknowledged the reaction to the restriction on plastic tampons applicators, stating discussion with ladies about the brand-new law ought to remain open.
However, she stated there are options readily available, consisting of tampons with cardboard applicators, menstrual cups and natural tampons.
“We made a comparison and even an analysis of the groups of women who use tampons and we believe that it can be perfectly covered with this other type of material,” Robles stated in an interview.
Plastic applicator tampons were still on the racks of some Mexico City shops, Reuters discovered, while they had actually vanished from others. A little supply of cardboard applicator tampons was readily available in one case, offered along with those with plastic.
Robles stated about 7% of merchants were still “lagging behind” however that authorities thought compliance would increase.
A box of natural tampons offered on the popular e-commerce website Mercado Libre had a typical rate comparable to 51 to 100 pesos per tampon ($2.54 to $4.99), according to Anahi Rodriguez, spokespersons for menstrual rights company Menstruacion Digna Mexico.
At that rate, alternative items might be out of reach for lots of ladies in Mexico, where more than 40% of the population resides in hardship, according to federal government information.
“This could be detrimental for people with lower incomes, which is worrying because school and work absenteeism could increase,” Rodriguez stated.
Companies ought to take on a few of the obligation to make tampons with cardboard applicators or no applicators quicker offered in Mexico, Robles stated.
She stated city authorities remained in talks with manufacturers for almost 2 years about making more non-plastic options readily available prior to the restriction began.
“It seems to us that it is part of the commitments that entrepreneurs should assume,” Robles stated.
Even if alternative items are quicker offered, the federal government is still getting rid of an alternative from ladies, activists stated.
“Although there are alternatives, if women’s structural conditions are not optimal, we are facing a scenario of false freedom of choice,” Santiago stated.
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