HOSPECO, a pioneer and leader in the feminine hygiene dispensing category and a leading manufacturer of cleaning and protection products serving the “away from home” marketplace, has introduced a newly designed dispenser for feminine hygiene products. The modernization initiative continues the company’s effort to give voice to a burgeoning movement set afoot by activists and politicians alike, and that is to “End Bathroom Inequality.”

This campaign and similar grassroots initiatives — known by other names such as Free the Tampon — all seek the acceptance of sanitary napkins and tampons as crucial to a woman’s health and hygiene, much the same as toilet paper, toilet seat covers, soap, and hand dryers are to both men and women. The goal of the initiative is to widen access to dispensed feminine hygiene products in public restrooms and, when possible, to have these products available for free as are other washroom amenities.

HOSPECO provided the first free feminine hygiene product dispenser in a public high school at the High School for Arts and Business in Queens, New York City. The groundbreaking pilot program, the only government initiative of its kind in the nation, was conducted in partnership with New York City council member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland and the New York City Department of Education.

Of the new dispenser, Bill Hemann, HOSPECO vice president of sales and marketing, said, “This is the first new dispenser style we have offered in years. And there are more to come.”

With a more modern look and feel, the new dispenser features cleaner lines and an easier-to-use, ADA-compliant, push-button dispensing mechanism. Front-loaded on the door, the dispenser is easier for maintenance staff to restock with tampons and pads. In that regard, the new machine is improved as well, featuring an adjustable channel to accommodate different strengths of products —both super and regular tampons, for example — instead of all one kind.

HOSPECO also outfitted the dispenser with an at-a-glance sensor that lights up when the machine is empty and needs to be refilled. This removes the mystery that’s prevented many women from using — and trusting in — these dispensers until now. Specifically, “women never know if the machine is empty,” explained Hemann. And they often are, since maintenance staff usually has no indication that new product is needed. “This is a simple solution to a big problem,” concluded Hemann.

But the most important option is that the facility owner has the option of offering the machine’s products on a complimentary basis. HOSPECO believes that providing the option for free tampons and pads can help a facility enhance its brand.

“Many facilities are community places,” explained Hemann. “They are the places where people work, shop, study, eat, drink coffee, or otherwise commune with one another. These places have brands and social equity as much as branded goods you might find on a store shelf. Accepting feminine hygiene products as a women’s health issue builds a very personal connection to the women sharing the space. We think relationships happen in spaces like this,” concluded Hemann.

The traditional, for-profit option is also available with the new dispenser, along with the same advantages of a greater choice of product types and greater ease of use.

HOSPECO’s full line of safety, cleaning, and protection products can be found on the company’s website at www.hospeco.com.