Wave of tampon applicators plagues Halifax harbour
Last Updated: Friday, June 26, 2009 | 11:54 AM AT
CBC News
A Halifax woman has started a campaign to stop plastic tampon applicators from being flushed into the harbour.
The applicators have been floating ashore for weeks because the sewage treatment plant on Barrington Street has been shut down since a power failure in January led to extensive flooding, causing untreated sewage to flow into the harbour once again.
The plant won't be repaired until next spring. Cindy Schultz said plastic applicators are now strewn all over the shores of Point Pleasant Park.
"I'm here twice a day with my dogs and you cannot walk two feet on the beach without seeing at least a dozen at your feet. And it's disgusting," she said Thursday.
Schultz is trying to educate women to put tampon applicators into the garbage, rather than flush them, and she has set up a blog and a Facebook page that focuses on this issue.
"As much as it's fun to poke fun at men, this is all us. And we're always saying we're the victims and we can't do anything about things, but this is something that we can do something about," she said.
Manufacturers contacted
Shultz has also contacted four tampon manufacturers asking them not to use plastic.
"Tampax came back to me with a statement that was for us to read the instructions. Which I thought was really aggravating and got me even more riled up because to simply say, 'Read a nine-point instruction pamphlet' isn't enough," she said.
"We're getting rid of plastic bags, why not get rid of the plastic tampon applicators as well?"
Schultz wants local retailers to remove from their shelves tampon products that are not bio-degradable.
The Halifax Water Commission has also launched a radio advertising campaign urging people to stop flushing items such as applicators, condoms and diapers.
