Meet the Samoan businesswoman who’s making sanitary products more sustainable

Meet the Samoan businesswoman who’s making sanitary products more sustainable:

Salele: The issue surrounding menstrual hygiene and access to products differs with different groups of women and girls. Higher-income women for example, are more concerned with convenience, time and associated environmental impacts. Those who expressed concern about the environment had a background or career relating to conservation or environmental protection and advocacy. Those who did not express concern considered it only after information on environmental impacts were shared.

For middle- to low-income women, the concern is about cost and access. These women were less aware of the environmental impacts, and a large majority did not consider the environment at all when it came to menstruation. This could be linked with the high use of cloth rags, and a lack of education on the topic of plastic waste and its link to menstrual hygiene products. Reproduction and menstruation are taught in some Samoan high schools, but not in a local context inclusive of hygiene and management. Whether this is discussed at home between mothers and daughters will be included in our data collection and research.

Angelica Salele (right) and her business partner Isabell Rasch with their products (photo courtesy Angelica Salele).

Salele: We have learned through our consultations with women and government workers that there are girls in remote areas in Samoa who miss out on school during menstruation, because they do not have access to proper menstrual hygiene products. And while we note that this is true for many other developing countries and regions, we are perhaps the only region where solutions to this problem are most limited. Our product is the first of its kind to be produced locally in Samoa. Through it we aim to help keep girls in school by providing them with a cheaper alternative to the expensive disposable products currently available on the market, which they have difficulty accessing for many reasons. In addition to helping girls stay in school, we also want to help women, particularly those living in poverty, who have the same difficulty in accessing products, to be able to continue working, participating in society and living normal lives regardless of what time of the month it is.