REUSABLES - what are we needlessly wasting?

Those who know me would roll their eyes and turn deaf as I get up on my soapbox. Reusable shopping bags are gaining steam, but there are other reusable resources that just aren't getting the attention they should. What are they? Please share! You probably know something that I do not. I can't name all of our reusable options, but feminine hygiene is a major area of interest for me.

Please don't go away! I promise I'll keep everything on a need-to-know basis!



So, shouldn't there be a better way? There most certainly is. I'd known about reusable cloth pads for years, but it was roughy 4 years ago when I learned of this "cup" alternative. I finally gave it a try last year when I ran the idea by a couple friends, along with their friends. All of us sitting comfortably around a coffee table, the incentive was unanimous:  "Not on your life!"

This irritated me, because they didn't really consider the benefits. I decided, that very day, that I would buy a DivaCup and let them know what I thought. A couple weeks later, I became an evangelist. Made of medical-grade silicone, it sits just below the cervix and collects fluid rather than absorbing it like a tampon and drying you out, there are no reported cases of TSS, and it doesn't carry an odor like pads. Once in place, you can barely feel them, and one, single cup can last for up to 10 years! With all these benefits, why are we so squeamish about giving it a try??

Instead of being annoyed with myself for not jumping on this alternative at the offset, I'm putting this energy into sharing this information with anyone who will listen. My close male cohorts are never shy about matters of biology, and I've even held the attention of a few others by appealing to their childish side: "You'll never have to buy pads or tampons for your mom/girlfriend/sister/wife ever again."

In the webverse, I've encountered people who've "tried them, but it didn't work for me". Well, which ones did you try? Just as one type of shoe doesn't work for everyone, you have your options.

1. The Alicia (Australia)
2. CupLee (Russia)
3. Copita Menstrual (Chile)
4. The DivaCup (Canada)
5. Femmecup (UK)
6. Fleurcup (France)
7. Hygina (India)
8. Reusable Instead Softcup (Canada)
9. Iriscup (Spain)
10. JuJu (Australia)
11. The Keeper (USA)
12. LadyCup (Czech Republic)
13. Lunette (Finland)
14. MeLuna (Germany)
15. Miacup (South Africa)
16. MiaLuna (Chile)
17. MissCup (Brazil)
18. Mooncup UK (UK)
19. The Moon Cup (USA)
20. MPower (South Africa)
21. NaturalMamma (Italy)
22. Naturcup (Spain)
23. Ruby Cup (Kenya)
24. Shecup (India)
25. Si-Bell (Italy)
26. Yuuki (Czech Republic)

I understand that this is an embarrassing topic of conversation for many people, but really, it shouldn't be viewed any differently than arguing over the best brand of laundry detergent (Method), hair care and skin care (Kiss My Face trumps Nature's Gate), or tissue (Seventh Generation). These are all intimate care products, so why should we treat them any differently? The more we talk about our options, the more likely we are to find better alternatives.

So what form of reusable do you utilize that you wish others would embrace? Cloth napkins? Glass milk bottles? Donut grease?

Edited to fix broken image

My daughter makes her own cloth diapers from amazingly soft bamboo cloth. The colors, patterns and designs are beautiful nowadays. When she's done with them, she passes them on by selling online or to local friends. She has also made up flannel wipe cloths, which shouldn't be such a shock - growing up, we used regular wascloths on siblings bums.

In my household, I use cloth napkins and also cloth rags. The ubiqitous roll of paper towels has no place in my house.

I haven't been brave enough to venture away from toilet paper.

Nope, they aren't meant to replace TP, though I guess they could. They replace disposable baby wipes.

Ah, I see now. Some friends of mine use cloth diapers for their baby, but use a disposable insert for long days in the car. I heard all about an unpleasant situation when one of them forgot the insert and the other had to go the full day toting an unpleasant smell.

So far at our sustainable home, we have fallen into the habit of generating less and less trash almost automatically, because in our rural location everyone has to tote their own trash to the local municipal solid waste facility.

#6:  That's a nice incentive.  My husband and I don't waste much since neither of us even likes taking the trash to the bins behind our townhouse.  This mostly comes from staying with some family where the garbage filled every other day, and I got sick of going to toss something and there'd be no room.  I wanted to shout, "Seriously, people???  How many are there in this house?"

Yeah, my daughter, who is seriously conscientious in other areas, doesn't bother to recycle, and their food packaging purchases are lousy with containers. I try to organize and compact their trash whenever I'm there, but it never sticks. I even take their recyclables with me.
My community takes all paper to recycle, and I find that is the largest part of what accumulates in my home. So I've got a two section bin, and the bag of paper gets switched out a lot more frequently than the side that goes to the landfill. The landfill grocery bag goes out perhaps once every six weeks.
Our trashmen have proven time and again that they are too lazy to place the recyclables in the trailer they pull. (Yes, I've called to report it.) So I carry it all to a convenient drop-off location. The city has placed them at multiple locations, and they are always busy with drop-off traffic.
There was a proposal several years ago to tie the trash bills to volume, but it didn't pass.

Hope corn-starch diaper works out!

The disposable diaper game changer: corn starch
by Parija Kavilanz February 1, 2017
http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/01/technology/diapers-ecofriendly-tethis/index.html...

Margd and everyone, that is such a great point about corn starch. And for younger generations folks that don't get it about recycling, maybe a cool 20-something or teen will appear online or on TV or on NetFlix in that trending new T-shirt --- There Is No Planet B.

>1 justjukka: I do use cloth pads (in Canada, Lunapads)

I also use cloth napkins. I even bring them, every month, to my book club. We take turns with bringing food, and people pretty much bring disposable napkins. And, even with my cloth napkins there, if the alternative is disposable, most people still take the disposable!!!! I don't get it. But, as long as I remember to bring them, the option is always there for the few of us that take it.

There was something else I was going to mention, and now I've forgotten as I typed my cloth napkins paragraph!!!

>2 2wonderY: I also use cloth rags... probably 80% of the time. I must admit to having paper towels, mostly for picking up cat puke! Then, I will clean the area with a cloth rag. :-)

I just take old cloths that are not in good enough shape to donate and cut them up.

>3 justjukka: I also haven't been brave enough to try the reusable toilet paper! It took a few years to convince myself of the Lunapads, but t.p. I just don't think I can do it!

I bought some "ziplock" type cloth bags (RePac us the brand I bought) online a while back and use them for Kleenex, trail mix, cat treats... etc.

Speaking of Kleenex, at home I mostly use handkerchiefs. Must admit to using Kleenex outside the house, though. (That's where the cloth "ziplock" type baggies come in handy. Instead of buying the travel size Kleenex (and having the extra plastic packaging), I just fold up Kleenex from the larger box and put in the cloth "baggie".

The other side of the coin...

London's plastic water bottle waste is out of control, mayor warned (Guardian)

the London assembly environment committee... calls on the mayor to consider introducing a deposit return scheme and to provide free tap water as an alternative.

Both of which were the norm when I was growing up in London half a century or so ago, although we didn't have plastic bottles nor soft drinks in cans in those days so it was glass bottles (milk, beer, sodas, etc) which were re-used through a deposit return scheme. Funny how people have to re-invent the wheel after first discarding it!