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The City of Windsor is moving forward with a pilot project to provide free menstrual products in the public restrooms in six of its largest buildings.
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The estimated cost for the one-year pilot is $ 19,000. That includes $ 10,000 for initial installation of dispensers and receptacles, and $ 9,000 for products over the course of the year. In addition to providing them for free in women’s and family restrooms, the council decided to provide them in men’s restrooms as well, “to meet the menstrual needs of transgender and other non-binary people,” says an administration report, saying that this group is often overlooked. in the movement to make tampons, sanitary pads and other menstrual hygiene products freely available in public buildings.
The six buildings where the project will be executed are: the WFCU Center, Windsor Water World, Windsor International Aquatic and Training Center, Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex, 350 City Hall Square and 400 City Hall Square.
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“I think it was a wonderful moment for our council,” Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie said near the end of Monday’s council meeting after the pilot project was approved.
There will be reports on the success of the pilot project, with an assessment of whether it should be a permanent offering on all buildings in the city.
“That’s certainly where I hope this is going, that any facility in the city that has a public restroom should offer these products,” McKenzie said in an interview Wednesday.
The report estimates that it would cost $ 39,000 to install dispensers and receptacles in public restrooms in all city buildings, including libraries, plus $ 37,000 a year for supplies.
The campaign to convince the city council to offer the products for free was carried out by local teenager Jada Malott and her father Mike, along with supporters of the union movement.
Making these products free, rather than charging a quarter or more for a dispenser that is sometimes broken or empty, is a matter of fairness and fairness, say the father and daughter. They point out that all other products that people use in a public restroom, such as toilet paper, soap, and paper towels, are provided free of charge.
Similar advances have been made in the school boards in the area.
Reference-windsorstar.com