The struggle of managing daily routine doubles with periods. Getting periods for a woman doesn’t mean period to all routine activities. Well, we might say its normal – it’s a challenge every month. Undeniably women around the world face this universally. Over and above this, eco friendly sanitary pad disposal becomes imperative and challenging to avoid harming nature. Women have to be careful as to how they dispose of the used sanitary pads.
What is your method of sanitary pad disposal?
Are you flushing the sanitary pad?
Do you burn the sanitary pad?
Do you resort to disposing of the sanitary pad in water bodies?
You never wrap the pad before disposing it of?
Do not dispose of used pads into dry waste or recycling bins?
Well, then they are not ecofriendly sanitary pad disposal methods.
Why?
Environmental Degradation:
Sanitary pads are made out of plastic and non-degradable material. Conventional pads are made of 90% plastic and take approximately 500-800 years to decompose. Imagine the harm it is causing our environment.
On an estimated 12 billion pads are discarded in India annually. The damage amplifies if we consider the count globally.
Flushing sanitary pads:
Never flush used pads since they have absorbents that swell the pad and it leads to clogging of the sewage system. Serious plumbing issues cause blockages and sewage overflows. Pads are designed to absorb moisture and expand. They do not dissolve.
Sanitary pads do not break down in water. So there arises a need for costly plumbing repairs and sewage backups.
Burning sanitary pads:
When the used pads are burnt or incinerated, they release carcinogenic dioxins and various toxic chemicals. It is obvious since sanitary pads are made up of synthetic components. Thus, it further harms our environment, though you might feel it’s ecofriendly sanitary pad disposal method.
Burying sanitary pads:
If you think that burying used pads would be a wiser way to dispose them of then you are mistaken. There are plastic layers in the pad like the polyethylene backsheet. These plastic materials are extremely harmful to nature. They require hundreds of years to degrade. They create a terrible impact on the fertility of soil and harm the soil microbiota.
Thus, it’s a myth that burying used sanitary pads is an ecofriendly sanitary pad disposal method. It is clearly not.
Uncovered pads:
When you don’t wrap used pads properly with toilet paper, newspaper or a special biodegradable disposable bag you are again harming our environment. It leads to pathogen exposure and odour.
It attracts pests, leads to spread of harmful diseases and harmful sanitary conditions.
Not separating menstrual waste:
Menstrual waste has to be kept separate from waste that can be recycled. It should be separated from organic, compost waste and dry waste. This is vital to avoid cross-contamination and challenges in processing the waste.
Absence of designated sanitary bins:
Often in offices and public places, even at home we don’t have designated sanitary bins. But it’s a necessity since the used pads should not get mixed with the other waste. It spread bad odour and attracts rodents, and insects too.
In the absence of designated sanitary bins, the waste handlers, pickers, cleaners, and children get exposed to this menstrual waste. This exposes them to blood borne pathogens like HIV, STIs, hepatitis, etc.
Why have designated sanitary bins?
For ecofriendly sanitary pad disposal, it is necessary to have designated bins because then the menstrual waste is routed to facilities meant for its unique hazards – like municipal biomedical waste plants or hospital incinerators.
If there are no designated bins the used pads get mixed with general waste. Post which they land up in places they shouldn’t.
They pollute water bodies, and clog the sewage system. With designated bins for sanitary pads and waste a hygienic behaviour is encouraged especially in schools, at workplaces and public toilets. In these places quite often unsafe disposal of sanitary pads is common like flushing and hiding in trash bags.
Naree Care is aware of the environmental damage caused by used sanitary pads. In a step towards protecting the environment, Naree Care encourages ecofriendly sanitary pad disposal through its Menstrual Hygiene Unit or a Sanitary Bin. Get in touch with our team to guide you.
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