Burlington will offer free feminine hygiene products at 90 public washrooms citywide

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Published March 3, 2022 at 9:59 am

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The City of Burlington is expected to join the growing number of communities providing free feminine hygiene products in public washrooms.

A staff report at today’s Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Committee meeting recommends offering free menstrual products in baskets in public-facing washrooms at the city’s recreation facilities, including city hall.

“This is really an issue of equity and inclusivity,” said Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward during an exclusive Instagram Live interview with Insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura.

“When we go into washrooms now, nobody pays for soap or toilet paper, so why would you pay for feminine hygiene products. This brings more equity to our community.”

The plan is to offer the products in 90 washrooms across 19 facilities as a pilot project until the end of the year.

An initial investment of $15,000 will allow city staff to purchase approximately 60,000 tampons and pads for public washrooms. The cost will be covered by savings already realized in janitorial services in January due to provincially-mandated closings.

The first project like this was in London in 2019 and the idea has spread to several other communities. Last October, the province extended the program to all schools in Ontario.

According to the staff report, at other locations where the project has been run, fears of vandalism or misuse of products was largely unfounded.

The project first launched in Burlington late last year when a small grant allowed the Pink Project to outfit public washrooms at all seven Burlington Public Libraries, Joe Dog’s Gasbar Grill, Value Village and Halton Police District 3.

City staff will monitor usage, engage feedback from the community, and report back their findings in Q4 of 2022 with recommendations and requests for the 2023 budget.

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