A recent campaign aims to break the silence on the topic of menstruation by actually speaking up about the increasing hygiene waste and its disposal.
The five-week-long online campaign "#Periodofchange", which ended recently sought "concerted action on integrated menstrual hygiene management to ensure women are able to choose safe, hygienic and sustainable products."
It was part of a larger "Kachra Project," which seeks to mobilise people around waste issues in India in order to build a sustained social change movement.
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"Through the use of technology, we create accessible resources for the public to engage with. We partner with fellow organisations to create campaigns dealing with specific streams of waste (for #periodofchange, it was menstrual hygiene waste) to provide feasible solutions," says Arpita Bhagat, Campaign Manager.
Familiar with various other ongoing campaigns on raising awareness to end the shame associated with periods, Bhagat says, "None of them focussed on the waste disposal or the environmental aspect of menstruation."
The campaign highlighted several aspects associated with the multidimensional subject including sustainability, development of menstrual hygiene management sector in India, dealing with menstrual hygiene waste, the pros and cons of reusable menstrual hygiene products and dealing with concerns and issues around shifting to alternate menstrual hygiene products.
Menstrual waste, which is currently disposed by either wrapping in newspapers or polythene bags, falls under the category of absorbent hygiene product waste.
Citing numbers, Bhagat says, "Allotting 12 napkins to a woman per month, adds up to 432 million soiled pads, weighing a staggering 9,000 tonnes a month- enough to cover a landfill spread over 24 hectares."
The composition of sanitary napkins and tampons makes them a threat to the environment.
LDPE (low density polyethylene) plastic polymers and multiple layers of chlorine bleached cellulose or wood-pulp in pads contain dioxin, furans and potential carcinogens.
"These cause soil and water pollution as they leach down the surface. The long-term effects of such pollution have only begun to be understood.
"Dioxins, for instance, are hormone disruptors that damage the immune system, cause reproductive and developmental problems which can be transmitted from mothers to unborn babies," says Bhagat.
