Chapel Hill library could be 1st in Triangle to install free tampon dispensers
Tampons and menstrual pads can be costly, and they’re not always around when you need them, so the Chapel Hill Public Library is stepping in with a solution.
All five public restrooms at the library now have coinless dispensers, making menstrual products available to patrons, including transgender and non-binary people, library officials announced Wednesday.
The move appears to make Chapel Hill the first library system in the Triangle to provide the service.
Wake County Public Libraries does not yet provide free period products, spokeswoman Stacy Beard said Thursday, but it is being discussed. Orange County’s public library also does not have dispensers, a library staff member said.
The News & Observer’s efforts to reach Durham County library officials were unsuccessful, but it does not appear from an internet search that Durham’s library branches offer free period products either.
Chapel Hill’s Aunt Flow dispensers
The Chapel Hill project’s goal is to provide a needed product to people, whether they are facing economic challenges or are uncomfortable approaching someone for help because of the stigma surrounding menstruation, they said.
“One of our organizational values is hospitality, and we aim to anticipate the needs of our users,” Library Director Susan Brown said. “Pads and tampons are a need for so many who visit us, and offering them free of charge demonstrates our commitment to ensuring a comfortable and inclusive environment for all who visit.”
The move was spearheaded by library Experiences Assistant Taylor Bugge, who oversaw the installation of the Aunt Flow dispensers on Tuesday. The dispensers offer natural cotton products wrapped in biodegradable packaging to reduce the amount of waste generated.
The library was able to get five dispensers and a year’s supply of products from the Ohio-based company with $2,245 in one-time federal American Rescue Plan pandemic relief money for public libraries, Chapel Hill library spokesperson Hannah Olson said.
The dispensers, which normally cost $300 each, were available at a discount because they were going to a public library, she said. The library will pay to restock the machines after the first year out of its annual budget.
Tampon tax, lack of access solutions
An estimated 86% of women have found themselves without supplies when their period started in public, according to the Aunt Flow website. Lack of supplies has also forced 1 in 3 low-income women to miss school, work or other events, it said.
An internet search reveals the average cost for a lifetime of menstrual products ranges from $2,000 to well over $6,000, depending on the individual need. North Carolina also remains one of 22 states that charge sales tax on period products.
A bill filed last year in the state House and Senate would have ended the “tampon tax” and allowed public schools to provide products to their students using state money. The bill was referred to committee, where it remains.
“In North Carolina and many other states, they are taxed on top of their retail price as ‘luxury goods,’” Bugge said. “Providing these products may be the difference between whether a patron can stay at the library to take advantage of our resources and programs, or missing out on these experiences due to a lack of access.”
Other nonprofit groups and advocates have stepped in to fill the need with free access to tampons and pads, including the N.C. Diaper Bank, which provides period products to students through a Period Power partnership with the Durham Public Schools.
The group also will host an upcoming event — the Menstruation Celebration — on May 23 to mark Period Poverty Awareness Week, which runs May 22-28. The event will raise money and collect tampons for local schools, homeless shelters and nonprofit partners.
Feminine hygiene product initiatives in schools
There has been some movement at the state level, too, to address the lack of access to period supplies, including a $250,000 Feminine Hygiene Products Grant Program that the legislature funded two years ago.
The $250,000 grant program, allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, ran out of money within a week, according to a 2022-23 state Department of Public Instruction report. They were distributed to 35 public school districts, 31 charter schools and one lab school, including the Durham Public Schools and Orange County Schools, it said.
Other school systems, including the Wake County Public Schools, keep pads available in case of emergencies, and high school students are taking their own steps, forming clubs like the Free Period club at Chapel Hill High School to stock school bathrooms with period products.
In the Triangle, N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill and other schools are making their own dent in the problem.
UNC’s Carolina Union distributes free tampons and pads from public vending machines in its restrooms, and last year, UNC’s Residence Hall Association launched a similar program in the dormitories on campus. Period products also are available on campus for free from the Campus Y, Student Wellness, Student Affairs Services Building and the Dean of Students Office, a UNC spokeswoman said.
N.C. State University launched its Menstrual Equity Initiative last year, adding 125 free product dispensers to women’s restrooms and single-occupant, gender-neutral restrooms across its campuses, spokesman Mick Kulikowski said.
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