Aisle’s 2021 Social and Environmental Impact Report

Sustainability and transparency are two important value pillars for Aisle. While many of our efforts are ongoing (such as our commitment to being a top ranked B Corp, and conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of our products’ environmental impacts) we also do an annual Impact Report, which includes our social impact and menstrual equity projects.

Our 2021 Impact Report  has just been released. Here are a few highlights, for folks who don’t have time to read everything!

Menstrual Equity

Aisle supports numerous period equity projects and groups across North America with financial and product donations of period underwear and other reusable menstrual products. These donations target equity-seeking groups, including access-challenged Indigenous communities, trans and non-binary youth, urban Black youth, women in transitional housing and more. 

Our Holiday #BoxersUnderTheTree campaign  supported 200 trans and gender non-conforming youth in receiving gender-affirming Boxer Brief leakproof period underwear. Many recipients told us how the underwear help with their feelings of gender dysphoria.

Aisle is also a proud sponsor of the CHARMS (Collaborative Hub: Advocacy for Reproductive and Menstrual Services) app, a platform created by Free Periods Canada, a student-led menstrual equity non-profit. CHARMS connects leaders from around the world to share information and co-create projects to support menstrual health and equity on Turtle Island (North America) and beyond.

Some of the groups that we are proud to have supported in 2021 include:

• Atira Women’s Resource Society - Vancouver, Canada
• Bleed The North - Ontario, Canada
• Break The Cycle - Ontario, Canada
• Do it Greener - New Orleans, USA
• Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre - Vancouver, Canada
• Downtown Eastside Response - Vancouver, Canada
• Girls For Change Canada
• Indian Residential School Survivor Society - BC, Canada
• Lowell Housing Authority - MA, USA
• Moontime Sisters - BC, Canada
• No More Secrets Mind Body Spirit - Philadelphia, USA
• The Period Purse, Ontario, Canada
• Project AIM - BC, Canada
• Sis to Sis Toronto - Ontario, Canada
• Sexual Health Nova Scotia - Nova Scotia, Canada
• The United Way Period Promise - BC, Canada

Decolonization, Reconciliation and Re-Indigenization

Aisle operates on the stolen traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. As such, we are committed to doing the work of Decolonization, Reconciliation and Re-Indigenization as part of our personal commitment and business practice. 

• Education: The Aisle team engaged in a half-day workshop, led by two Indigenous educators, to provide a platform for education and discussion on the history and impact of residential schools and how we as individuals can take personal action to fight systemic anti-Indigenous racism.
• Donations to the Indigenous Residential School Survivors Society
• Showcasing diverse menstrual health activists and artists of colour. We screened Varsha Gill’s short film ‘Bleed With Me’ and facilitated a panel discussion entitled "Destigmatizing Periods Through Dialogue", including Moontime Sisters, and #HappyPeriod.
• Sponsored a feature series: In partnership with our treasured colleagues the Menstrual Health Hub, a global resource for menstrual health and equity practitioners, we created a Decolonizing Menstrual Health video interview series to showcase the leadership and wisdom of Black, Brown and Indigenous leaders in the menstrual health space. These videos (and more) are available on the Aisle YouTube channel.

Environmental Impact of disposable menstrual products vs period underwear and cloth pads

Single-use disposable products last for a few hours before heading to a landfill for 500 years, or in the sewage system. Here’s the difference that our customers’ choice to switch to Aisle reusable cloth pads and liners and period underwear made in 2021.

• Waste diverted - 97,867 kg / 215,759 lbs

Our reusable products result in emissions savings, as the emissions needed to produce one-time-use products are avoided.

• CO₂ EMISSIONS avoided - 290,138 kg / 639,644 lbs

It also takes far less energy to make and care for reusable menstrual products than disposable pads and tampons.

• Energy conserved - 5,457,075.1 kWh

Think that there’s not a big difference between virgin 100% polyester and recycled polyester in menstrual underwear? Think again:

• Post-consumer waste used in underwear with recycled polyester yarn - 2,124 kg / 4,683 lb
• Textile waste diverted - 861 kg / 1,900.80 lb

Watch for more exciting impact projects coming in 2022, including a robust new educational project in partnership with Period. and GreenPeriods!