The Future of Period Care

Creating a more sustainable, more beautiful future 

AWWA is a period care brand that deeply reflects the relationship and connections between oneself, our environment, and planet. Our products help people all around the globe to manage their monthly cycles with confidence and connection without the negative impact associated with single use period products.

AWWA lives and breathes inclusivity for all who menstruate or experience minor bladder weakness. We are rooted by indigenous traditions that celebrate ikura (Māori translation for period) and aim to reconnect our growing community to traditional wisdom and practices that are equally relevant in today’s world.

AWWA’s purpose and why we exist is:

• To do our part to eradicate period poverty
• To have a net positive impact on our environment
• To change the narrative to ensure positive emotions about periods

Single use period products are made with plastic, meaning they can take up to 500 years to break down in our landfills.

Together with our customers (as at the end of FY24), AWWA has prevented 53,093,520 single use period products from ending up in landfills and waterways in New Zealand and around the world. This number continues to grow every day with new customers making the decision to move to a more sustainable period product. 

Made with care. Care for you, care for the earth

From the natural, organic and recycled fabrics we use, our toxic-free processes to the ethical makers and our carbon footprint. We aim to live by our social & environmental mission: 

CLIMATE POSITIVE FOR BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Businesses are a huge contributor to the output of carbon emissions. We work with Ekos to measure and offset our emissions each year, and are proud to once again be Climate Positive for Business Operations in FY24.

We are proud to report that we almost halved our emissions from FY23 to FY24!

You can read the full FY24 report here.

We're climate positive! Cool, what does that mean?

Sustainability is incredibly important to us.  Yes, the period proof underwear we make is a better choice than pads and tampons for the environment but we appreciate that our day to day business operations can also have an impact on the environment through the output of carbon emissions.

We have measured and offset at least 120% of our carbon footprint for business operations with certified carbon credits through Ekos. The below diagram shows what is included in our business operations measurement:

Why Climate Positive?

Today more than ever, we are becoming increasingly aware of how we have reached a point where our human footprint is affecting the earth. We are presently at a tipping point; what we do in the next 50 years will shape what the next 10,000 years looks like, therefore it is crucial to understand where we are right now. We know that to keep temperature rise below 1.5C within this century we need to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Globally we are in a transition to a low carbon economy, with rapidly growing demand for climate solutions that deliver sustainable land management outcomes.  As a business, we feel great responsibility to ensure that not only are we producing a sustainable product but that the processes and business operations we engage in equally have a positive impact on our environment. 

So how does it work?

Ekos are at the forefront of forest carbon financing, working with landowners, businesses, universities, councils and governments to drive green innovation.

One method of carbon credit production is through reforestation and rainforest protection. To operate within the carbon market these projects and their carbon claims must be measured, verified and certified. The carbon sequestration that occurs through photosynthesis within these projects is converted and issued as carbon credits. One tonne of sequestered carbon results in one carbon credit. These credits are held in a registry. When a consumer (or business like AWWA) offsets their carbon emissions through the purchasing of carbon credits, these credits are permanently cancelled and are no longer available for purchase (this avoids any risk of double counting).

The projects in Aotearoa that AWWA have invested in through carbon credits with Ekos:

KĀNUKA HILL - URUWHENUA NATIVE REGENERATION PROJECT
Kānuka Hill is 76.4ha of naturally regenerating indigenous forest located in Uruwhenua, Mōhua (Golden Bay), Aotearoa. Certified under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.

BABATANA RAINFOREST CONSERVATION PROJECT
This project is owned by the indigenous peoples of the Sassamungga and involves protecting tropical lowland rainforest at two sites on South Choiseul, Solomon Islands: Sassamungga and Boeboe. 

 Check out our Climate Positive certificate here

OUR ONGOING COMMITMENT TO CARBON REDUCTION
In an ideal world, we would aim to stop emitting green house gases (GHG) altogether. However, in reality this is impossible for almost all businesses. While we are proud to be Climate Positive for our Business Operations, we are committed to undertaking actions to reduce our operational carbon emissions, so that there is even less to offset! We work to a carbon reduction plan and have identified three key focus areas: 

• Upstream Freight - Better planning to enable all inwards freight to come via sea rather than air.
• Fuel and Energy related emissions -  A shift to sea over air freight will aid in the reduction of Well to Tank (WTT) emissions.
• Mobile combustion - Upgrade company fleet to hybrid or electrical models, or more fuel efficient than present vehicles.

Check out our reduction plan and targets:

CARBON REDUCTION PLAN