This International Women’s Day - Monday, March 8 - be #PeriodProud and put period products in the trash.  Utilities Kingston wants to start an important conversation aimed at encouraging women, girls, and people who are nonbinary to put tampons, applicators, pads, packaging, and other period products in the trash and not the toilet.

Flushed period products can clog up your pipes or the wastewater treatment system and lead to costly repairs. We choose to challenge the ‘flush it to hide it’ stigma, because no person should be so embarrassed about their period that they flush these products down the toilet. Be #PeriodProud.

‘Choose To Challenge' is the campaign theme for 2021 International Women’s Day.

View, share and like the #PeriodProud video and Utilities Kingston will donate tampons to the United Way

On International Women’s Day, March 8, Utilities Kingston wants everyone, regardless of gender, to:

• view this one-minute Utilities Kingston video and
• share it to - help end the stigma around periods and encourage proper disposal of period products – using the #ChooseToChallenge and #PeriodProud hashtags on social media.

Once we reach 1,000 interactions with our video on social media, we will donate 200 boxes of tampons to the local KFL&A United Way Tampon Tuesday campaign. (Interactions can include views, likes and shares.)

Frequently asked questions

What’s the connection with International Women’s Day?

Period stigma hinders gender equality, while International Women’s Day is about challenging gender inequality. We choose to challenge the ‘flush it to hide it’ stigma, because no person should be so embarrassed about their period that they flush these products down the toilet. 

What’s the link between period stigma and flushing period products?

There is supporting evidence of the stigma behind periods and the reason women feel the need to flush period products down the toilet:

• Alda‐Vidal, C.; Browne, A.; Hoolohan, C. (2020, May 26). Unflushables”: Establishing a global agenda for action on everyday practices associated with sewer blockages, water quality, and plastic pollution. (See page 8)
• Browne, A., Danino, V., Dyson, R., Hoolohan, C., & Pillinger, C. (2020). ‘Unflushables 2030? Mapping Change Points for Intervention for Sewer Blockages’: Workshop Proceedings 27th & 28th January 2020, Manchester, UK . (See Unblocking Menstrual Stigma.)

See also:

• Why some environmentalists are pushing for an end to plastic tampon applicators
• The Ryerson Flushability Study

Why all the focus on period products? Aren’t there other non-flushables that create sewer issues?

Utilities Kingston has created the annual Know what to flush campaign, which we issue every October. Wipes (of any kind), dental floss, needles, hair, and fats, oils, and greases are other top problem causers. They should never be flushed down the toilet or poured down a drain. We thought that the International Women’s Day theme of #ChooseToChallenge was a good fit to focus on challenging period stigma.

Know what to flush

Utilities Kingston is reminding residents to never flush wipes or period products – even if a package claims they’re flushable. Only flush the three P’s – pee, poo, and (toilet) paper.

Other items do not break down in plumbing and treatment systems. Flushing them causes sewage back-ups in homes and costly breakdowns of wastewater treatment equipment, which in turn can contaminate local waterways and pose a health and safety risk.

Avoid flushing wipes, tampons, tampon applicators, pads, fats, oils, greases, dental floss, needles, hair and other trash. Here’s how to properly dispose of the top offenders:

• Wipes of any kind – Cleaning, baby and hand wipes go in the garbage, even if the package claims they are flushable. It’s a toilet, not a trash can!
• Period products – Tampons and pads go in the garbage, along with associated applicators and packaging, even if the package claims they are flushable. Or consider a waste- and plastic- reducing alternative, such as period cups.
• Fats, oils and greases (“FOGs”) – Wipe greasy pans with a paper towel and put it in the Green Bin.  Dispose of solidified fats and grease in a 100 per cent paper cup, in your Green Bin. Dispose of cooking oil in a screw-top container in your garbage.
• Larger food particles – Use a strainer in your sink to catch food scraps and other solids. These go in your Green Bin.

Learn what else not to flush.