Used Sanitary Napkin Disposal in India: A Challenge

Used Sanitary napkins often being wrapped in paper or plastic & being thrown away with domestic garbage or being flushed away in toilets flush or being thrown away into water bodies. It leads to the spreading away from deadly diseases like E.Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, HIV, Hepatitis & Tetanus. These Napkins, since it’s mostly Non-Biodegradable, stays around 400-800 years.

• 336 million menstruating women
• 36% Uses Sanitary Napkins
• 121 million Women using Sanitary Napkins
• No of Napkin being used per cycle of menstruation – 10 Pads ( Approximate)
• No of cycle per year 14
• 12 billion pads (approximately) disposed monthly, majority of which are not biodegradable *
• 63 % girls do not change their absorbent in school due to lack of disposal facility. Adding to the above facts are some of our Socio-Cultural practices & believes, making it more difficult to ensure Hygienic disposal of these Soiled Napkins:

• In some areas the sight of menstrual blood is considered inauspicious,
• Some girls and women may buries their used absorbent in an attempt to remove all traces of menstrual blood
• In some culture Girls are not allowed to use available sanitation facilities during menstruation

What is the solution?

• One of the widely used solutions – to Change the physical nature of Solid Waste by incinerating them & reduce them to ash then these ashes can be drained down in toilet flush. Install these small Incinerators in each of the Ladies Toilets so that –
• Women can easily Incinerate their Soiled Sanitary Napkin without any intervention
• Machine to be installed inside of each Ladies Toilet so that women can have their private space
• Load & incineration can be done by simple one switch operation so women can feel confident of destroying the soiled napkins by themselves
• We should install as many machines as possible in Ladies Toilets so that it becomes a common practice for Women to use the incineration process.

* These figures have been calculated based on the National Family Health Survey 4 data, market penetration data, and census data by members of the Menstrual Health Alliance India