Plastic Tampons Banned in Mexico City
Protestors demonstrate for women’s rights in Mexico in 2019. Source: Commons
The city government of Mexico City banned tampons with plastic applicators, along with several other plastic products, in an effort to reduce plastic waste. Women can no longer purchase tampons in Mexico City stores after the government ruled they are not considered essential products.
Environment Minister Marina Robles justified the non-essential label with the existence of many alternatives, such as tampons with cardboard applicators, organic tampons, menstrual cups, and pads. However, the alternatives, with the exception of pads, are considerably more expensive than tampons with plastic applicators. More than 40 percent of Mexican women live below the poverty line, so these more expensive alternatives are not universally viable options.
Many women refuse to wear the cheapest alternative, pads, because they must wear white clothes to work. To counter this, several government officials have recommended rubber menstrual cups. Yet the issue of cost remains: women usually purchase menstrual cups online, and 56 percent of the Mexican population does not have a bank account.
Experts state that pads also harm the environment, so this ban is unlikely to drastically change waste output. One report suggested that pads are at least as polluting to the environment as tampons with plastic applicators.
Moreover, it will be extremely easy for women to get around this ban. Stores legally sell the plastic tampons outside the Mexico City boundaries, and pharmacies within the city continue to sell them under the counter.
Many women’s rights activists claim that gender bias influenced the selection of products that were banned. For example, men’s condoms are single-use and contain polyurethane, a plastic component, but are not affected by the ban.
Activist groups and local legislators, such as Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, demanded that women must have access to free menstrual cups or other more expensive alternatives. Otherwise, they attest that “menstrual poverty” will continue to hold women back.
This legislation intensifies the drastic inequalities described by women’s rights activists, such as the 20 percent gender pay gap. Women now have a false freedom of choice when it comes to their personal sanitation products, contributing to a feeling of exclusion.