Chennai, May 26 : Considering the immense non-biodegradable waste generated by disposable sanitary pads every month, sustainable menstrual hygiene in India can be achieved only with reusable pads made of organic material, Anju Bist, Co-Director, Amrita SeRVe (Self Reliant Village) Program of Mata Amritanandamayi Math, said.
Known as the “Pad Woman” of India for her zeal in promoting the use and reuse of sanitary pads made of cloth and banana fibre, she is the co-creator of Saukhyam Reusable Pads which have been awarded as the “Most Innovative Product” by the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad.
The pads were also lauded at the UN Climate Change Conference held in Poland in 2018.
“There are 355 million menstruating women and girls in India, as per the National Family Health Survey data. Many from low income communities still do not have access to hygienic products to manage
their menstruation”, Ms Anju Bist said.
There are efforts by many organizations to make low-cost disposable pads available to such women, according to a release.
”But if every woman and girl of menstruating age in India were to use disposable pads, 38,500,000,000 used pads will be discarded every month”, she said.
She said that burning soiled pads will release harmful dioxins and furans and burying them was no good either as they are non-biodegradable. Each pad contains plastic and would take 500 to 800 years to decompose. Saukhyam Reusable Pads are the first ones in the world to be made from banana fiber, which is a naturally occurring absorbent material. It absorbs six times its weight in fluid Disposable pads, on the other hand, use cellulose fiber for absorption.
Cellulose fiber is derived from cutting down billions of trees every year worldwide, unlike banana fiber which is obtained from agro-waste.
All cellulose fiber used in India to make disposable pads is imported. Banana fiber is locally available. Its supply is limitless and cheap as India is the largest producer of bananas in the world.(UNI)