What is period poverty?

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Period poverty is a lack of access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities, or a combination of these, for reasons of cost.

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Is that a problem in Bristol?

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Bristol has the third highest rate of period poverty across England, Scotland, and Wales: More than two in five women/girls in Bristol (41.2%) have been affected by an inability to afford menstrual products, this is significantly more than the national average of 27%. This situation has worsened with the recent rising costs: in the first three months of 2022, the charity Bloody Good Period reported a 78% increase in the need for free period products.

• 27% of girls overuse sanitary products as they couldn’t afford a fresh one[i], presenting significant hygiene and health risks.

• 40% of Bristol students have missed school at some point due to difficulties accessing period products.

 

How the Period Friendly Places (PFP) scheme addresses this

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We provide free menstrual products to anyone who needs them making them available through distribution centres such as community centres and libraries across Bristol.

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The role of the corporate partner

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1. Corporate partners play an essential role in helping to eradicate period poverty. They provide a focal point for the collection and distribution of free menstrual products to those who need them. 

2. Corporate partners collect products from their staff and, with the help of staff volunteers, deliver these products to their allocated community venues (e.g. community and health centres) for distribution, typically bi-monthly.

3. Corporate partners can also receive products from PFP to help them meet their distribution commitments.

4. PFP supplies donation boxes, posters and all the promotional materials needed.

5. Community venues sign up to the scheme and receive free period products and a set of posters to advertise the scheme in their venue. Members of the public are also invited to contribute to the box if they are able and wish to donate.

6. PFP staff regularly keep in touch with the community venue to check that they have sufficient product and that everything is working well. PFP staff will contact you if your venues need more or less product than you are delivering on a regular basis.

7. As a corporate partner we ask that you make a small donation to help run the scheme and in return we will provide education, resources and support for you to be a period friendly workplace.

 

Why should my organisation get involved with our Period Friendly Places Scheme?

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• Your business can be part of a solution to help to eradicate period poverty in Bristol

• Involvement visibly supports your inclusion, diversity and community outreach work 

• Our scheme provides easy volunteering opportunities for your people, typically a half day every 2 months delivering products to allocated venues

• We will support you every step of the way 

 

How much does it cost to join the scheme? 

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We are a self-funded charity and we ask for a donation to help meet the cost of running the charity and obtaining products if staff donations are insufficient. For corporate partners, we suggest this donation might be between £500-£1,000 per year although any amount is welcome.

 

How much product is needed?

 

It varies from venue to venue, typically a bin bag full every 2 months.

What type of products are needed?

Both sanitary pads and tampons, generally more sanitary pads are needed than tampons. 

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How many places will we deliver to?

 

We will talk with you about your capacity and what number of venues you can accommodate but in the first instance you will be allocated a maximum of eight venues to take product to on a bi-monthly basis. We will help ensure you have enough product to meet this demand and will allocated centres close to each other.

 

What about sustainability? 

 

We’re grateful for whatever products people can spare. Wherever we purchase products to supplement donations we aim to purchase sustainable products. Sustainability is part of our education programme. 

 

Are we able to purchase products directly? 

 

Yes, and we plan to launch a service to assist with this.​

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