Forth Valley College would like to hear from students who would like to try a new range of environmentally friendly sanitary products.
The college is hoping to form a special focus group to gain feedback from interested students on the latest washable sanitary towels and menstruation cups that can be easily washed out and re-used time and again – both products are easy to carry at all times, will help students save money and reduce the impact on the environment.
The initiative comes after a new survey revealed this week that more than a quarter of females have missed either work or school because of period poverty. While it had been previously thought the problem had affected one in 10 women, new research revealed that 27% of females have at times been unable to afford sanitary products.
FVC are looking for six to eight volunteers from across the college to come in and chat about these products, try them out and give their honest opinions and feedback. Anyone interested in getting involved should contact Pauline Donaldson FVC’s Soft Services and Sustainability Coordinator on sustainability@forthvalley.ac.uk
Forth Valley College’s free female sanitary product initiative has already received support from local a local MSP Monica Lennon who visited the Falkirk Campus last year to personally back the programme which saw two distribution points and vending machines provide female students with free sanitary products at each FVC Campus. There was more good news when the Scottish Funding Council announced that FVC would receive £51,368 to help fund this initiative.
Pauline Donaldson, FVC’s Soft Services and Sustainability Coordinator, said: “We are determined to offer as much help, advice and support on the issue of Period Poverty to ensure that we can provide easy access to products to minimise the impact on an individual’s ability to fully participate in education at all levels.
“That is why we are looking for six to eight volunteers from across the college to come in and chat about these products, give us their honest opinions and feedback on them and perhaps even take them away for a trial period – so to speak!
“The results we collect from this group will determine whether there is an interest to offer these products to the larger student body.”