DC Summit photo

Hospeco Brands Group sent four leaders, including Tom Friedl, president and CEO of its parent company The Tranzonic Companies, to Washington, D.C., for the 2023 ISSA Clean Advocacy Summit. Friedl also serves as executive officer of the board of directors for ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association.

The Clean Advocacy contingent met with more than 80 congressional offices to discuss tariff relief and the growing US demand for high- and low-skilled labor, but perhaps the most meaningful dialogue centered on ending period poverty. Hospeco representatives joined ISSA and a group of 15 additional advocates committed to enabling equitable access to feminine hygiene products. These groups met separately with Congressional offices, non-governmental organizations, trade associations, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the White House’s Gender Policy Council on ways to increase equitable access to period products among lower-income communities in the U.S.

The statistics make the need clear—79 percent of menstrual care product users have had to improvise a makeshift fix when their periods start in public places, and 86 percent have started their periods without the supplies they need. Young women and girls can miss school if they start their periods and can’t afford menstrual care products.

Hospeco is proud to continue the mission it began in 2015 with the founding of its Period Partner initiative, the first nationwide campaign in support of free menstrual care products in all public restrooms. What began with one school in New York City has now spread across the country, into Europe, and beyond schools and universities to include government buildings and, in some markets, all buildings accessible by the public.

“Much has been accomplished in the past eight years, but there is more to be done, which is why events like the Clean Advocacy Summit in the nation’s capital are so important,” says Bill Hemann, executive vice president of Hospeco Brands Group. “Speaking directly with lawmakers and decision-makers who have a national impact can accelerate our efforts to ensure menstrual products become just as normalized in public restrooms as toilet paper and soap. Menstrual care products are a necessity, not a luxury, and it’s time to take universal access seriously. Period.”