This story is from Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab, where community reporters write about health and climate issues in their neighborhood. Neighborhood Reporting Lab is supported by the Americana and Kresge Foundations.
In 2016, Saanvi Kalia, then nine years old, attended a science camp at Schoolcraft College. The experience opened her eyes to deforestation, global warming, and other ecological topics. After that summer, Kalia developed a passion for sustainability and a desire to help save the planet.
Now a senior at International Academy West in White Lake, Michigan, Kalia educates her peers and others about sustainable menstrual products that reduce plastic waste.
At just 17 years old, Kalia founded EcoFlo, a website that raises awareness about wastefulness and offers an alternative to disposable menstrual products like pads and tampons.
When Kalia got her first period, she noticed how much waste the tampons and pads generated.
She calculated that she threw out up to 10 pads per day and 12 tampons each period. This number grows exponentially over a lifetime of monthly periods and makes a difference in our waterways and landfills.
Kalia grew concerned about the impact single-use period products have on the environment. Tampons and menstrual pads are manufactured with plastic, producing non-biodegradable waste. Over long periods, these plastics are known to litter waterways and fill landfills.
According to the National Library of Medicine, plastics can take 100 to 1000 years to biodegrade into microplastics and decompose. Those plastics enter our waterways, often ingested by fish. It’s estimated that the average person ingests five grams of plastics weekly, equivalent to the weight of a credit card.
Manufacturers use low-density polyethylene plastics to manufacture pad and tampon applicators, contributing to fossil fuel emissions that heat our planet Earth.
“Every time I threw away my products, I thought about the impact of the products on the environment,” Kalia said.
She spoke with friends and family and discovered that most people she knew were using single-use plastic menstrual products and encouraged them to reduce their usage.
She believed she could do more. A resourceful teen, Kalia began doing Google searches, which led her to textile companies with manufacturing processes that contain no toxic chemicals and that safe, waste-free products are created.
She wanted to talk to others about eco-friendly menstruation products and how small changes in our behavior can be made daily.
Kalia’s father, Atul Kalia, has a background in automotive engineering and business. He encouraged his daughter to raise awareness about the alternatives to pads and tampons.
With her dad’s support, Kalia founded EcoFlo LLC in 2023 as a junior in high school to sell seamless, breathable, washable period underwear to move people away from single-use menstrual products.
“Period underwear was the most user-friendly of the options made available to women, while other options were either taboo or considered unsanitary by my family and friends, and it is the least intimidating [to use],” Kalia told Planet Detroit.
EcoFlo panties are made with four absorbent layers of fibers, including nylon, spandex, and cotton. They are certified by OEKO Tex Standard 100, a global organization that certifies products manufactured in the textile and leather industries. This means that the textiles are tested for over 1,000 known harmful substances.
The panties set the benchmark of “from yarn to finished products,” which are harmless to human health.
Kalia began to partner with organizations like I Support the Girls (Detroit chapter), as well as Wayne State University and Michigan State University.
“I think it’s wonderful what Saanvi is doing, and we are thrilled to lessen the environmental impact of single-use plastics,” Rebekah Page-Gourley, Detroit Director of I Support the Girls, told Planet Detroit.
Over the past 11 months of operating, Kalia said EcoFlo has donated 136 pairs of period underwear to Pad the Mitten at Michigan State University, The Detroit Period Project at Wayne State University, and I Support the Girls Detroit.
Kalia is passionate about distributing the company’s underwear to those experiencing period poverty in Metro Detroit.
Unhoused people, refugees, people in shelters and transitional housing, students, and those with low income are some of the populations who are unable to access period supplies in the short and long term.
Page-Gourley of I Support the Girls said that she “thinks it’s wonderful to work together to fix period poverty” when donations from organizations like EcoFlo lessen the impact on the environment and the stigma of being unable to afford menstruation products. “EcoFlo brings products to communities through (distribution) partnerships,” Kalia said.
Most EcoFlo products are sold and donated on local college campuses and in pop-up shops with businesses supporting the company’s mission to raise awareness and the usage of period underwear and other products that contribute to sustainable living practices.
Kalia reaches out to organizations via social media and speaks directly with the organizers and business owners. The full range of EcoFlo underwear includes seven distinct colors in a high-rise brief style that fully covers the backside to protect the wearer from leaks. The product consists of a liner that can absorb the same amount of blood as four super tampons for a maximum wear time of up to eight hours per day.
Later this fall, Kalia plans to launch a bikini-cut high-rise for those who prefer more streamlined underwear. Both EcoFlo styles can be worn with form-fitting clothes and for activewear but are not for swimming. The underwear can be washed by hand or machine but must be hang-dried. A care guide comes with the purchase.
The company donates one product for every product purchased and provides a pathway to discover other eco-friendly products, such as menstruation cups and discs.
By the end of 2024, EcoFlo is on track to donate 200 products to the greater Lansing and metro Detroit areas. The product is priced at $25.00 and can be purchased at various pop-up shops on the EcoFlo company website and Instagram.
Millions of single-use menstrual products made with plastics fill the oceans and land. Kalia believes it’s important to be mindful of our environmental impact.
“Even small, habitual changes (can) make a difference,” Kalia said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of pairs of period underwear EcoFlo has donated.