When Is Menstrual Hygiene Day & Why It Matters

Menstrual Hygiene Day was first established in 2014 by WASH United, a German-based non-profit, to raise global awareness about menstrual health and hygiene management. The movement has grown dramatically since then. In 2025, the day reached over 971 million people worldwide, making it one of the most impactful public health awareness campaigns of its kind.

The day’s mission is straightforward: to create a world where no one is held back because they menstruate. That means advocating for access to period products, menstrual health education, and the physical infrastructure. This includes restrooms, disposal facilities, water and sanitation services that people need to manage their periods safely and with dignity.

For those of us in the US, it’s a timely reminder that progress on menstrual equity isn’t something that only happens in developing countries. It’s a conversation happening right here, in our communities and institutions.

Access to period products gets a lot of attention and rightly so. But there’s another piece of the puzzle that’s just as important and far less discussed: what happens after. Where does someone safely and discreetly dispose of a used pad, tampon, or liner when they’re at school, at work, or in a public building?

The answer, in too many American restrooms, is that there’s nowhere proper to do it. Stalls without sanitary units or waste receptacles that people find unhygienic or unsafe using, force people to improvise – wrapping products in toilet paper, leaving them on the floor, or flushing them (which causes plumbing damage and environmental harm). None of these are acceptable outcomes. They’re also entirely avoidable.

According to UN-Water, only 1 in 3 schools globally have receptacles for menstrual waste. While the US is better resourced than many countries, the gap between what’s available and what’s needed is still real, and still affecting people every day.

Menstrual Hygiene Day isn’t just about awareness. It’s about accountability. And for schools, employers, and public sector bodies in the US, accountability means taking a hard look at whether their restrooms are genuinely fit for purpose.

Consider what it means for a student to use a school restroom that has no disposal option. Or for an employee to navigate a period in a workplace bathroom that hasn’t been updated in decades. These experiences – small in isolation, significant in repetition – send a clear message about whose comfort and dignity are being prioritized.

Providing proper sanitary disposal units in every restroom stall is one of the most direct, practical steps any institution can take to close this gap. It doesn’t require a policy overhaul or a major capital investment. It requires a decision to do better.

The global theme for Menstrual Hygiene Day is #PeriodFriendlyWorld – a vision where stigma is history and everyone has what they need to manage their period safely. In a practical American context, that vision looks like this:

• A sanitary disposal unit inside every individual restroom stall and not just in a central waste receptacle outside the cubicle
• Touch-free or easy-open lids that allow for hygienic, no-contact disposal
• Odor-controlled, contained units that maintain discretion and cleanliness
• Regular servicing that keeps facilities clean and functional

SaniPod™ USA’s range of sanitary disposal units, including the compact Pod™ Petite Auto and the full-sized Pod™ Classic Auto, are purpose-designed to meet exactly these standards. Touch-free, hygienic, and built for high-traffic environments, they’re used across educational facilities, offices, healthcare settings, and public buildings throughout the US and around the world.

May 28 is a moment to reflect, advocate, and act. But the need for clean, accessible period care infrastructure doesn’t pause on May 29. People are managing their periods in your restrooms 365 days a year, and the quality of those facilities shapes their experience of your institution every single time.

Whether you manage a school, run an office, oversee a government building, or operate any kind of shared facility, Menstrual Hygiene Day is a useful prompt to ask: are our restrooms genuinely supporting the people who use them?

If the answer is ‘not quite’, the fix is simpler than you might think. Upgrading your building restrooms with proper sanitary disposal units is a small change with an outsized impact – on comfort, on dignity, and on the message your space sends to everyone who walks through it.

Ready to take that step? Explore SaniPod USA’s full range of hygienic sanitary disposal solutions and find the right fit for your facility.