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Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Stain-free, stay-in-place, no leakage, comfortable to wear, and light on the pocket are women’s top priorities when they buy commercial sanitary napkins.
But what they don’t consider is their safe disposal, and how over 12 billion of these non-biodegradable pads are filling our landfills, and even our sewerage system, water bodies and fields, posing colossal environmental and health risks.
As the decomposition of sanitary pads takes over 500 years, what is needed, experts said as World Environment Day draws near (June 5), that manufacturers of these products use materials that don’t have toxic material in them as 90 per cent of them have plastic and other materials like super absorbent polymers (SAP), chemicals, and cellulosic materials.
According to Bishwanath Sinha, Director, Policy and Technical Support, WaterAid India, an international charity that works in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene services, while the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifies quality standards for sanitary pads, these standards are not mandatory, and not enforced strictly.
“Thus, manufacturers do not have to reveal the composition of their products,” he told this paper.
Though India has come out with Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules, only a few cities, like Indore, have been successful in the safe disposal and management of disposable sanitary napkins.
Sinha added that the health and environmental impact is more pronounced because of the unorganised and informal ways of municipal solid waste management, including poor segregation, low community collection, lack of sufficient disposal and transportation networks in cities and villages, and limited infrastructure for scientific disposal.
Thus, these materials, when disposed of carelessly in the open, can pollute soil and water sources and release harmful toxins when burned in the open, in burning chambers, and in unregulated incinerators.
As the government has stipulated that the preferred method of disposal is incineration, many unregulated incinerator plants have been set up with no minimum standards, often leading to the release of harmful toxins in the air, said Ravi Agarwal, founder director of Toxics Link, an environmental group.
Also, while many government bodies and organisations are enthusiastic about implementing incinerators, concerns arise regarding their proper installation, including sufficient ventilation, added Snehal Pawar, Assistant Manager, Ujaas, an initiative of Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET). This social enterprise focuses on bridging the gap in menstrual health.
“It has been observed that numerous schools, colleges, and institutes possess such machines; however, they often remain non-functional due to inadequate maintenance,” she said.
She added that in many cases, girls are not given proper demonstrations on using them, leading them to dispose of sanitary napkins inappropriately, such as throwing them out of windows or flushing them down toilets.
However, in India, which has approximately 35.5 crore women who menstruate – 89.6% in urban areas and 72.6% in rural areas – there are taboos and superstitions still attached to the burning of sanitary napkins.
So what is essential is waste segregation – right at the source – when implementing menstrual waste solutions like – incineration, deep burial, chemical treatment, and recycling, said Agarwal.
And for this, added Gaurav Bathwal, Co-Founder of Niine Sanitary Napkins, a leading provider of premium and affordable hygiene solutions in India; the focus needs to be on education and awareness not only for women and girls but also to waste collectors about the potential health and environmental hazards linked to improper disposal.
“There is a need for widespread education and awareness campaigns at the grassroots level, involving local bodies, gram panchayats, and manufacturers, to address the issue of sanitary waste management,” he told this paper.
NEW DELHI: Stain-free, stay-in-place, no leakage, comfortable to wear, and light on the pocket are women’s top priorities when they buy commercial sanitary napkins.
But what they don’t consider is their safe disposal, and how over 12 billion of these non-biodegradable pads are filling our landfills, and even our sewerage system, water bodies and fields, posing colossal environmental and health risks.
As the decomposition of sanitary pads takes over 500 years, what is needed, experts said as World Environment Day draws near (June 5), that manufacturers of these products use materials that don’t have toxic material in them as 90 per cent of them have plastic and other materials like super absorbent polymers (SAP), chemicals, and cellulosic materials.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
According to Bishwanath Sinha, Director, Policy and Technical Support, WaterAid India, an international charity that works in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene services, while the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifies quality standards for sanitary pads, these standards are not mandatory, and not enforced strictly.
“Thus, manufacturers do not have to reveal the composition of their products,” he told this paper.
Though India has come out with Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules, only a few cities, like Indore, have been successful in the safe disposal and management of disposable sanitary napkins.
Sinha added that the health and environmental impact is more pronounced because of the unorganised and informal ways of municipal solid waste management, including poor segregation, low community collection, lack of sufficient disposal and transportation networks in cities and villages, and limited infrastructure for scientific disposal.
Thus, these materials, when disposed of carelessly in the open, can pollute soil and water sources and release harmful toxins when burned in the open, in burning chambers, and in unregulated incinerators.
As the government has stipulated that the preferred method of disposal is incineration, many unregulated incinerator plants have been set up with no minimum standards, often leading to the release of harmful toxins in the air, said Ravi Agarwal, founder director of Toxics Link, an environmental group.
Also, while many government bodies and organisations are enthusiastic about implementing incinerators, concerns arise regarding their proper installation, including sufficient ventilation, added Snehal Pawar, Assistant Manager, Ujaas, an initiative of Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET). This social enterprise focuses on bridging the gap in menstrual health.
“It has been observed that numerous schools, colleges, and institutes possess such machines; however, they often remain non-functional due to inadequate maintenance,” she said.
She added that in many cases, girls are not given proper demonstrations on using them, leading them to dispose of sanitary napkins inappropriately, such as throwing them out of windows or flushing them down toilets.
However, in India, which has approximately 35.5 crore women who menstruate – 89.6% in urban areas and 72.6% in rural areas – there are taboos and superstitions still attached to the burning of sanitary napkins.
So what is essential is waste segregation – right at the source – when implementing menstrual waste solutions like – incineration, deep burial, chemical treatment, and recycling, said Agarwal.
And for this, added Gaurav Bathwal, Co-Founder of Niine Sanitary Napkins, a leading provider of premium and affordable hygiene solutions in India; the focus needs to be on education and awareness not only for women and girls but also to waste collectors about the potential health and environmental hazards linked to improper disposal.
“There is a need for widespread education and awareness campaigns at the grassroots level, involving local bodies, gram panchayats, and manufacturers, to address the issue of sanitary waste management,” he told this paper.
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