Every question we get asked
20 answers, grouped by topic, from service frequency to contracts to compliance. If yours is missing, the contact form reaches a coordinator within one business day.
The basics
Who is required to provide menstrual products in Canadian workplaces?
Since December 2023, federally regulated employers must provide menstrual products free of charge in every washroom, along with a covered disposal receptacle. Provincially regulated workplaces follow their own province's rules, which vary. Our compliance pages break each one down.
How often should sanitary disposal bins be serviced?
Most washrooms run on a four-week cycle. High-traffic sites move to two weeks; low-occupancy sites go to eight or thirteen. We set frequency per washroom after the site walk, then adjust once real usage data comes in.
Do you supply dispensers, or only the products?
Both. We supply and install units, or we simply keep the units already on your walls stocked. If you are converting coin units to free-vend for a compliance program, we handle the changeover as part of the rollout.
Can you service multiple sites under one account?
Yes. One agreement, consolidated invoicing, and service records broken out per site, from two buildings to a national portfolio. Multi-province accounts get bilingual documentation as standard.
How is a quote calculated?
On washroom count, service frequency, number of bins and dispensers, product mix and location. We quote per site and hold the rate for the term. No per-visit surprises.
Sanitary disposal service
What if a bin fills before the next scheduled visit?
Tell the service desk and an off-schedule visit is dispatched : on a dense urban route that typically lands within one or two business days, because your building already sits between other stops. Just as important: a logged early-fill automatically flags that washroom for a cadence review. One early fill is an event; two is a pattern, and the schedule tightens one step before the third can happen. That feedback loop is the real answer to overflow. The emergency visit fixes the day, the cadence adjustment fixes the quarter, and both show up in your service log so the next facilities review sees exactly what happened and how it was resolved.
Does every stall need a bin?
Yes, and it is worth being precise about why. A shared bin outside the stalls forces users to carry waste across the washroom, which most people simply will not do. The toilet is closer, and the plumbing pays for it. Per-stall coverage also spreads volume: each unit fills two to three times slower, which stretches the service cycle and usually costs less per month than fewer, faster-filling bins serviced more often. And under the federal mandate, a covered receptacle in every toilet stall is the requirement, not a best practice. An inspector who finds a bare stall has found a compliance gap, including in accessible and single-occupancy rooms.
Can we keep the bins we already own?
Usually, yes. If your existing units are serviceable, covered, intact, compatible with standard liners. We fold them into the route and service them on the same logged schedule as our own hardware. Where a unit fails on hygiene grounds (broken lids, cracked bodies, formats our sanitising process cannot handle) we flag it during the site walk with a per-unit replacement recommendation and a price, and the decision stays yours. Mixed fleets do carry a small operational cost, more liner formats on the truck. Which is why many accounts converge on a standard format at contract renewal, but nothing forces that on day one. The site walk settles it unit by unit.
Feminine hygiene dispensers
Do you install into tile?
Yes, tile, drywall, concrete and masonry are all standard mounts, each with the right anchors, and tile is the most common surface we see in commercial washrooms. The installer drills through grout lines where possible, uses tile-rated bits and anchors sized to the unit's loaded weight, and seals penetrations so moisture cannot migrate behind the wall. Where drilling is not allowed at all, heritage designations, some landlord fit-out rules, glass partitions. We specify free-standing or partition-hung units instead, and note the constraint in the site file so future service visits and any relocations start from accurate information rather than rediscovery.
Can our existing coin units be converted?
Most commercial units from the major manufacturers accept free-vend conversion kits: the coin mechanism comes out, a free-vend mechanism goes in, and the housing, lock and wall mounting all stay. The changeover runs under an hour per unit and the washroom keeps working around it. Units too old or off-brand for a kit get replaced with a standard twin-column free-vend unit in the same wall footprint. For federally regulated employers this conversion is not optional, coin-operated dispensing does not meet the free-of-charge requirement. And we sequence conversions so every washroom in a building switches in one visit, leaving no mixed period where some floors comply and others do not.
Who refills the dispensers?
Our route technician does, on the same logged visit that services your sanitary bins. One truck, one schedule, one record. Each visit checks both columns, refills to full, tests the vend mechanism, and logs the starting level so the schedule learns your real consumption instead of running on an estimate. If your own janitorial team prefers to handle top-ups between visits, we supply case stock on the same delivery and the technician still verifies levels and mechanism health each cycle, belt and suspenders that costs nothing extra. Either way, an empty dispenser between visits is treated as a service failure on our side, not a supply question on yours.
Bulk feminine hygiene supply
Do you sell to individuals?
No. We are a facilities supplier only. Case quantities, route service and per-washroom documentation are a different business from retail, and doing one well means not doing both. What we can do for individuals who land here: if you are an employee whose workplace washrooms lack provision, our compliance pages summarise what Canadian employers are required to provide. The federal mandate for federally regulated workplaces, and the provincial picture elsewhere. Which is often the fastest path to fixing the actual problem: your facilities team may simply not know the requirement exists. Point them at the law page for your province; procurement usually follows.
Is the organic line certified?
Yes. The organic cotton lines we stock carry recognised certifications (GOTS for organic textile processing, OEKO-TEX for harmful-substance testing, depending on the line), and we provide the current certificates on request as a standard part of onboarding. That paperwork matters more than the label: certifications lapse, so what your ESG questionnaire needs is a dated document, not a logo on a box, and we refresh certificates in your account file as manufacturers renew them. If your organisation runs supplier sustainability assessments, tell the account manager at setup. The certificate package, downstream-handling statement and a one-paragraph program description usually answer the whole questionnaire in one attachment.
Can supply ride along with bin service?
Yes, and that combination is our most common contract shape: the same technician who exchanges your sanitary bins delivers case stock and refills dispensers on the same visit. One truck roll instead of two or three separate vendor visits is where multi-service pricing comes from. The route charge is shared across services instead of billed by each vendor separately. It also consolidates the paperwork: one service log per washroom covering disposal, restocking and supply, one invoice per site, and one phone call when anything needs adjusting. Accounts that arrive with three separate vendors usually find the combined visit prices below the sum of what they were paying.
Washroom restocking
What exactly gets restocked?
Whatever your washrooms consume, on a list we fix together at setup: tampons and pads for the dispensers (conventional, organic or both), liners for the sanitary bins, and optionally the adjacent consumables, soap, paper, air-care. If you want one vendor covering the room. Each visit logs what went in, per washroom, so consumption becomes data: which locations burn stock, which barely move, where the schedule should tighten or relax. The list is a schedule annex, not a contract term, adding a product or a washroom is an email, and seasonal adjustments (summer shutdowns, January surges) are built into the cadence rather than billed as changes.
Can restocking run without a disposal contract?
Yes, restocking stands alone wherever you already have disposal handled or run your own units. The economics just favour combining: a restock-only visit carries the full route charge, while a combined visit shares it across services, so restock-only pricing sits closer to disposal-included pricing than most buyers expect. Operationally the products also interact. The technician refilling a dispenser is looking at the bin anyway, and fill-level intelligence from one service sharpens the schedule of the other. We will quote restocking alone without any bundling pressure. The numbers usually make the combination argument themselves when the first renewal conversation comes around.
How fast can you fix a run-out?
On a dense urban route, an off-schedule top-up typically lands within one or two business days. Your site already sits between other stops, so the marginal visit is a detour, not a dispatch. Report it to the service desk (or your technician directly; accounts get the route contact) and the visit is logged like any other. The more important machinery is preventive: every run-out automatically tightens that washroom's cadence one step, and the refill-to-full rule with a one-third buffer means a single spike week should never empty a dispenser in the first place. Repeat run-outs at a properly-cadenced washroom are our failure to fix, not yours to manage.
Workplace menstrual program
Which employers does the federal rule cover?
The Canada Labour Code amendment covers federally regulated employers: banks, telecommunications and broadcasting, airlines and airports, interprovincial and international transportation, marine shipping and ports, federal Crown corporations, and the federal public service. That is roughly six per cent of Canadian employees but a large share of multi-site washroom portfolios. Every bank branch and every terminal counts. Since December 2023 these employers must provide menstrual products free of charge in every toilet room regardless of its gender marking, plus a covered disposal container in each stall. If you are unsure whether your organisation qualifies, the test is which jurisdiction's labour law governs your employment relationships. Your HR or legal team will know immediately.
We're provincially regulated, is this still relevant?
Yes, on three grounds. First, several provinces already have requirements — British Columbia and Ontario in specific settings, school-provision rules in multiple provinces. And consultations are open elsewhere; the regulatory direction is uniformly toward provision, never away from it. Second, the federal standard functions as the de facto benchmark: when your province moves, it will almost certainly look like the federal rule, so building to it now converts a future deadline project into a program you already run. Third, the business case stands without any mandate. One to three dollars per employee per year to remove a daily friction for half your workforce prices below almost any other benefit on your books.
Is this legal advice?
No. Our compliance pages and this FAQ summarise public regulatory requirements to help facilities teams orient. Which jurisdictions require what, since when, and what the operational shape of compliance looks like. They are researched carefully and updated as rules change, but regulations have exceptions, transition periods and interpretive bulletins that only the source text and qualified counsel can settle for your specific situation. Use our summaries to scope the program and brief your stakeholders; use the regulation itself, or a lawyer, for any decision where being wrong has legal consequences. When our pages cite a rule, we link the source so your counsel can start from the same text.