Are Reusable Diapers Realistic for Low Income Families

The Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Matriarch-de-Grâce borough is launching a pilot projection in October that proponents say could save families in the borough hundreds of dollars annually while helping the environment.

The Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough is launching a two-year pilot project to subsidize the cost of reusable diapers and feminine hygiene products. (Elizabeth McMillan/CBC)

Along with taking a toll on the environment, disposable menstrual products and diapers accept a price on the wallet — creating a budgetary burden for those already struggling to make ends run across.

Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough is looking to kill 2 birds with one stone by launching a two-year pilot project that could save families hundreds of dollars annually while reducing waste.

The new project, which starts in mid-October, will subsidize the cost of reusable diapers and feminine hygiene products, offering citizens up to $200 a twelvemonth for cloth diapers and $100 every 2 years for menstrual products like reusable pads, sponges and cups.

"There are two things we're looking at here: we want to do all we can for the environs, but we also want to help families save money," said borough Mayor Sue Montgomery.

In tardily June, the borough agreed to launch a diaper subsidy programme in the fall — a plan adopted by a number of municipalities across the province, including Verdun and Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

• Material-diaper subsidy coming this autumn for CDN-NDG residents

Adding menstrual products to the subsidy is an "exciting initiative" because of how expensive they can be, Montgomery said. The initiative follows the lead of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, which already has a similar plan in place.

Angie Torres-Ramos, a spokesperson with the non-profit organization Plan International Canada, which has studied the issue nationally, says her group has never seen a subsidy plan for reusable menstrual products anywhere else in the country, though at that place are some on the international level.

• Campaign aims to end period stress for low-income women

The two-yr project will cost the civic $60,000.

How the project will piece of work

Starting in Oct, anyone interested in claiming the subsidy tin file a request with the civic along with their receipts for reusable products. The subsidy volition be offered on a sliding scale, with more than to lower-income families.

The subsidy tin besides exist used to encompass the costs of used cloth diapers and material purchased to make fabric diapers or reusable menstrual products.

The new subsidy volition even allow borough citizens to make their own reusable products, like these colourful flannel-lined menstrual pads made last year by a grouping of P.East.I. women looking to assistance girls in Kenya. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

Earlier approving the mensurate, the borough compared the use of 1,000 dispensable diapers to ane,000 reusable diaper changes — studying the impact from production to landfill.

• Montreal-area Tim Hortons to install diaper irresolute table in men'south washroom afterward Twitter outrage

Overall, cloth diapers use considerably less cloth, h2o and landfill space, producing 27 kilograms of solid waste versus the 200 kilograms produced past disposable diapers.

Cloth diapers, the civic found, accept the potential of saving parents more than $2,500 in the long run despite the added laundry costs.

Young Canadians struggle to afford menstrual products

The borough says feminine hygiene products can have a like environmental impact, as women apply an average of 290 products a yr, throwing away 10,000 to 15,000 in their lifetime.

These products also come at a substantial cost to Canadian women.

Co-ordinate to Canadian Menstruators, a group that fought to eliminate federal taxes on feminine hygiene products in 2015, Canadian women between the ages of 12 and 49 collectively spent nearly $520 million on products in 2014.

• P.E.I. volunteers stitch menstrual kits for girls in Africa

In May of this year, Program International Canada released a national report in partnership with Colina+Knowlton Strategies that interviewed ii,000 Canadian women in early on 2018 about menstrual cycle issues.

One third of women under 25 they spoke to said they struggled to beget menstrual products for themselves or their dependents.

Reusable feminine hygiene products tiresome to gain traction

Reusable diapers, now quick and like shooting fish in a barrel to utilize, have been growing in popularity in recent years, but reusable feminine hygiene products are still slow to proceeds traction in Montreal.

Annie Hamilton works in a Montreal health store that sells reusable menstrual products and, she admits, they're not very popular.

Mod cloth diapers are zip like they used to be, and in that location are several companies in Montreal offering kits and services for parents looking to save money while helping the environs. (Nati Harnik/Associated Press)

Single-employ products like tampons, she said, are damaging to the environment in a time when ecology issues are "the biggest problem that we're facing."

She praised Montreal's increasing efforts to combat single-employ products with measures like the new pilot project.

"It'due south very, very important we started with the plastic purse ban in Montreal, and this is role of the side by side step," she said.

With files from CBC's Kate McKenna

pillasadall95.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/cote-des-neiges-ndg-to-subsidize-cloth-diapers-reusable-menstrual-products-1.4810897

Share this post