Hi Ladies,

My school is running a kickoff week for the 350 campaign (if you don't know what this is, please head over to www.350.org and find out more details!) Essentially, this means doing a bunch of fun workshops, bringing in guest lecturers and musical acts to get everyone excited for environmental activism and change! I know that most women at my college are not aware of alternative menstrual products, so I suggested that we have a workshop, where I'll talk about cloth pads, sea sponges and menstrual cups. I'm really excited to run it, but was wondering if there were any pieces of info you would have wanted to know when you were making your decision to switch to cups? Any down sides you can think of? Your favorite things? Tips? Anything at all to spread the word!

Thank you all so much! After all, you helped me convert :) I figured I would share the cup love!

Hey!

My first diva cup got a little dirty, I didn't clean it as well as I should have! (tisk, tisk)  I got a new one afterwards, I like there is no risk of TSS with the diva and the convience of it, it is always there! I am cleaning it better now :) Now I am wondering how to do I get rid of my old cup? Do I put it in the trash or sent it back to Diva?

Also, is it ok if the cup has stains on it around the holes and in the stem?

Thanks for your help,
Beth

Hello everyone! I saw this post on green_daily  about a place that recycles old or unwanted sex toys! www.recycleyoursextoy.com/index.html
So it seems like you could recycle a menstrual cup! I'm sure that a place like that would take a cup too, I don't see why not. Just something for people who's cup is getting tattered or those Divas that are ripped by the hole and can't get replaced easily.

Hi everyone,

Haven't been here in awhile...things are going well, so there's been no reason.  I love my cup!  ;)

Reason I came by was to point out an article on the site/newsletter "Ideal Bite" here.  They offer daily tips on small things you can do to make your life more eco-friendly.  Yesterday's tip was about menstrual cups.  I usually enjoy their tips, but yesterday's was a bit weird.  They usually don't pass judgement or make opinion-based comments (unless they are in support of an item/method).  However, about menstrual cups, they said, "So the girls on the Bite team gave these contraptions the ol' college try, and we're sticking to eco-tampons. But seriously - you Biters rave about them. Talk pros and cons in the comments."  There are already four pages of comments and one link to this community, but maybe if we all head over there and talk about how great cups are, we can have an effect on how people view and deal with this topic.

Thanks! 

hello everyone! let me start off by saying if disposable pads work for you, i am *not* in any way criticizing or judging. hell, i used them for years myself. this is about my own experiences and how i feel personally about disposable pads.

i'm getting an iud (mirena) placed today and for my own peace of mind decided to use pads for the first couple months. i want to give it a few months to settle in before i try to use my cup with it. i have a lunette, so i'm not worried about it causing expulsion, i'm more just worried about my own learning curve with the iud + cup.

the doctor gave me a misoprostol pill to insert vaginally this morning to aid with the procedure (it softens and slightly dilates the cervix). i decided that might be easier to keep in place if i used a pad instead of trying to have my cup in with the pill (i have to be on my period for the procedure as per my obgyn). i wish i had thought ahead to buy some reusable pads, but i didn't. so i ended up buying pads for the first time in a year today. i've never had to use pads w/ my lunette, even as a backup, and... i know this sounds silly, but i almost felt like i was betraying my lunette. not to mention i didn't remember just how much my skin hates disposable pads. within an hour of putting on the pad, i was miserable.

i guess the whole point of this post is to say that i guess i never truly appreciated the freedom and cleanliness of my cup until i went back to a pad. i'm so glad this is temporary! i'm already dreading having to have pads in my purse and carrying into the bathroom. not to mention cringing every time i throw one away and realizing its going into a landfill. i miss my cup :(

 I was curious about the FemmeCup when someone recently posted that it is made in China. I investigated because I thought it is made in the U.K.  Their site says it is made in the "far east".  Since I am suspect of chinese production standards, I emailed FemmeCup and got an immediate response.  The silicon is manufactured in the U.K., then it is shipped to China to be poured into the moulds.  I'm not sure if I feel better about that or not, but here is the info so you all can make an informed choice. Thought I'd pass it on.

I've been working on a website on menstrual cups, and I just finished writing up this section in response to a question I've seen asked here, on other websites, and in my personal life. I just thought I'd share it with you all.

I can get a bit windy, so beware. I'm also a student of history, women's studies, anthropology, and sociology, so this reflects that.

It's basically my thoughts about the question, ( If menstrual cups are so great, why haven't I heard about them before? )

*Whew*

PS-Not sure how I'd tag this one, so I didn't.

I don't know if anyone's seen this yet, but I know I haven't seen a post about it...

I've been thinking about getting a Miacup eventually to go with my Diva, or eventually replace it. As I was surfing around their site, I came across this ad video that I thought was pretty awesome, especially if you were trying to convince someone who was interested mostly for environmental reasons. I can't embed it, but it's available at: http://www.miacup.co.za/eng/why_ad.php .

They are also letting people download it, which is nice.

Great little something to show those friends who might be interested but need something more than a pamphlet or whathaveyou :)

I just joined this community out of curiosity. I have been contemplating getting and using a cup, and while I've done plenty of research I still cannot find something. One of my only standing concerns with using a cup is what happens to it after it's life is over. How would you dispose of it after the 10 years you use it? I understand that using 'sposies (which I don't, ew) over ten years would be substantially worse than just one cup in the landfill would, but having it rot in a landfill would take away some of the environmental soundness from it, at least for me.

Does anybody know what happens to them after their time has run out? What is your theory?

*K