Good for the environment, and good for Cambodian women.

Green Lady: The social enterprise offering sanitary menstrual products
Soung Sovanny | Publication date 03 September 2019 | 22:02 ICT
Visionary Sovanvotey Hok is a self-proclaimed feminist and environmentalist – now she’s putting both of those virtues to work through Green Lady.

The innovative social enterprise provides Cambodian women with sanitary, environmentally-friendly, affordable menstrual products.

“We try to use only local grown cotton. The outer and inner fabric are both made from Khmer cotton and sewn by Cambodian women,” Sovanvotey, 24, said.

The infamous Sambok Chab Village dumpsite – filled faster than it’s scavenged – can be seen in the distance as she speaks to The Post.

Sovanvotey explains that Green Lady not only employs local housewives to sew menstrual pads, but has also prevented 1,200kg of plastic waste from being sent to dumpsites like the one nearby.

“We can’t avoid using polyurethane laminate for the bottom layer so women are sure that it won’t leak.

“As an environmentalist myself, I was determined to reduce my own plastic use as much as possible … I stopped using disposable pads myself two years ago” says Sovanvotey.

The inspiration for Green Lady lies in a 2016 trip to northern Thailand where Sovanvothey learned about Eco-femme – a low-cost sanitary pad producer from Tamil Nadu, India.

“The moment I saw those beautiful cloth pads, I could feel that they were made with lots of love and attention,” Sovanvothey recalled.

Her line of menstrual cups, pads and pouches can be used for up to three years with regular cleaning and care.
The small size retails for $5, medium costs $5 while the large size, meant for heavy-flow days or nighttime costs $7.

Sovanvotey Hok’s line of menstrual cups, pads and pouches can be used for up to three years. Photo supplied

Already, Sovanvothey is well on her way to making affordable, environmentally friendly pads more readily available.

In the past two years, Green Lady has sold 1,850 washable pads and 18 menstrual cups in Cambodia and Vietnam – preventing women from using around 96,000 sanitary pads – many of which are produced with noxious and otherwise unpleasant materials, including bleach.

For now, they can be exclusively found at the Dai Khmer store near Phnom Penh’s Toul Tompoung area, where around 200 are sold each month.

She hopes to have Green Lady products in retail outlets nationwide soon and stores in Siem Reap and Kampot province have already reached out to her to make the dream into a reality.

Women use up to 36,000 disposable menstrual pads over the course of their lifetimes. Sovanvotey claims Greenlady products are not only good for the environment, but the natural fiber construction helps keep women healthy.
For more information the organisation can be contacted via Facebook (@Greenladycambodia) or their website (greenladycambodia.wixsite.com).
Full article: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle ... l-products

The "Green Lady" is keeping up the good work of promoting reusable menstrual products for Cambodian women and girls, which are particularly useful for those living in the provinces, far from shops. These products also reduce the burning of plastic waste (ie. single use sanitary pads).

Green Lady’s reusable pads new eco-trend
Roth Sochieata | Publication date 01 August 2022 | 20:19 ICT

Reusable women’s menstrual products have been available in Cambodia since Sovanvotey Hok launched Green Lady Cambodia. The products are hygienic, environmentally friendly and save women money.

As part of her social enterprise, she has taught many women to sew the pads, and educated many of them about their menstrual cycle. She has the dream of seeing sewing the menstrual products included into the state curriculum. She believes educating students from generation to generation about alternatives for menstruation would be a useful life skill they could use.

Recalling her inspiration for the products, Sovanvotey said it was initially because she herself had an allergy to sanitary pads.

The environmental entrepreneur, who has studied communications and English, told The Post: “At that time, I had no choice but to use sanitary pads. While I was studying in Thailand at the end of 2016, I heard about a recyclable product from India. Once I used them, I knew that I wanted to share the idea in Cambodia.”

She explained that the products were easy to use, good for the wearers’ health and saved a lot of money. Each one can be used for three to five years.

She added that they have a layer of waterproof fabric so there is no possibility of staining the wearers’ clothes.

“It benefits both your health and your bank balance, especially for people with allergies, like me, or those who want to change their habits and protect the environment. Sanitary pads are not designed to be worn for more than three or four hours, but ours can be worn for longer. They are better for vaginal health too,” said the 27-year-old.

Sovanvotey said that when she first started the project, she wanted to focus on the menstrual cycle, but over time that has grown into sexual and reproductive health issues.

Currently, she is collaborating with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Cambodia) on training and also working with other organisations to create packages and provide training sessions in remote provinces.

She said she has a low cost package for organisations that want to distribute reusable menstrual products or raise awareness of menstrual hygiene. She also taught women how to sew their own products. This is designed to create an alternative to distributing sanitary pads.

“In Ratanakkiri province, I work with the UNFPA and with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, and in Kampot and Preah Sihanouk provinces we run regular social packages,” she said.
In full: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle ... -eco-trend