Menstrual Awareness and Sanitary Waste Management

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Introduction and Scenario:

Menstruation is when the female body discharges blood and tissue from the lining of the uterus at intervals of about one month, from puberty up until the menopause, except during pregnancy.

In India it is commonly believed that a menstruating female is impure and is prohibited from going to temples, setting foot in the kitchen, eating certain foods, touching males, sleeping on the same bed as other family members, etc. There is also a culture of shrouding it in unnecessary secrecy. Factors like a patriarchal society, religion and geographical location also severely affect how menstruation is perceived and often reinforce these misconceptions.

Sanitary waste management is a grossly neglected aspect of solid waste management. Due to various socio-cultural factors and general negligence, it is not treated as the biomedical waste that it is.

Products Used

Even though only 12% of Indian women use disposable sanitary pads, the statistics are staggering.
36 million women x 13 periods a year x 5 days a month x 3 changes a day = 7020 million plastic pads a year

Problem Areas:

1. Unavailability of adequate information on proper disposal

2. Packaging does not facilitate effective disposal
3. Implications of waste generation on the environment are not considered
4. No CSR or EPR integrated into manufacturing process
5. Ads show abstract portrayals of periods
6. Men are hardly ever included in ads

Resulting Issues:

1. Proper waste management does not exist
2. Ragpickers often catch diseases from handling incorrectly disposed napkins
3. Waste ends up in landfills and accumulates, breeds diseases
4. Menstruation is reinforced as something to be ashamed of and kept secret
5. Periods are viewed as purely a ‘Women’s Issue’

Collection and Disposal:

Current scenario

Solution 1 : Spreading awareness and breaking myths

We made a little stop-motion animation film that could be shown to little children ages 9 and up in schools.

In the film, Shivani and Sayani are best friends. One day in school, Shivani has her first period. Her classmates, unaware of the cause, see the blood on her skirt and jeer and laugh which leaves her embarrased and tearful. This affects Sayani deeply, and she goes home angry, confused and very curious.

Through the film we address issues like young girls throughout the country being kept in the dark about menstruation, the false myths and taboos associated with periods and the ill-influence of a patriarchal society on our culture. We are also trying to show how it should be unashamedly accepted by boys, girls, men and women as a very natural part of life, not to be shrouded in secrecy.

The film was also selected for screening at The Unmentionables Film Festival in New York in June 2015. It is an annual theme-based festival that focuses on a different 'taboo' topic each year.

http://www.unmentionablesfilmfestival.com/

Solution 2 : Redesigning the cloth pad

88% of Indian women still use cloth as a form of sanitary protection so we redesigned the cloth-pad. This would also be a waste management model in itself, since it is reusable and sustainable.

All prototypes are made from cotton and soft, absorbent felt material and have a plastic base to make it leakproof. There are wash-care instructions and graphical representations behind every pad.

Solution 3 : The Sayani Kit

We designed a kit which contains everything a girl needs to deal with her periods:
1. Sanitary napkins (cloth/disposable)
2. Dispo-sheets to wrap and throw pads
3. Nutrition supplements like iron/folic acid tablets
4. A feel-good factor (trinkets, candy, etc.)
5. An information booklet and CD on the what, how, when and why of periods

A business model could be built around this to create incentives for stakeholders. The kits could also be distributed to girls under the Kishori Shakti Yojana scheme.

Solution 4 : An effective collection and disposal system

We brainstormed and came up with various sanitary waste collection and disposal models and upon discussion with the CEE (Centre for Environmental Education) we finally settled on something that we thought was simple and feasible. It involves the government and contractors as key players, as for something this large-scale, the government as well as third-party stakeholders all need to play their part to sustain the system.