New Delhi: Mixing Of Regular, Hygiene Waste A Worry

New Delhi: Each sanitary pad contains plastic equivalent to around four plastic carry bags plus harmful compounds. In Delhi, sanitary waste isn’t segregated, almost all these items reach the landfill. According to a study conducted by Toxics Link, 84% of waste workers in the city find sanitary waste in regular household waste and 70% of waste workers said they always find menstrual waste mixed with household waste.

The study titled ‘Turning red to green: Sustainable periods’ by the NGO, which works on environmental poisoning, suggests healthier options like organic and cloth pads to reduce the burden on landfills. According to the study, 12.3 billion sanitary pads are disposed of every year in India. This is equivalent to 113,000 tonnes of waste.

An estimated 80% of the women in urban India use inorganic disposable sanitary pads. Most such pads contain harmful compounds that can cause conditions ranging from nausea and fatigue to cancer. Most sanitary waste Incinerators installed in schools, public toilets and other places operate without guidelines, burning sanitary pads at the wrong temperature, thus causing emissions of harmful carcinogenic gases.

Priti Banthia Mahesh, chief programme coordinator, Toxics Link, said, “Menstrual hygiene is an important issue, but most programmes related to this end up distributing disposable sanitary pads. There has been little realisation that inorganic pads are made of plastic, are non-degradable and end up polluting our environment. It is important to create sustainable alternatives for distribution to women.”
Mahesh added, “It is wonderful that menstrual hygiene programmes are reaching rural areas. Though the cities have some waste management system, rural areas have none — this means the used pads are burnt or buried. Unsafe disposal of sanitary napkins can lead to air, soil and water contamination.”

A Toxics Link survey also found that 39% of women, including those living in New Delhi, throw their sanitary napkins into the common household bins after wrapping them. Including women in Delhi, 57.5% of the women had no idea about the menstrual waste stream or the after-effects, while 89% believed menstrual waste was a concern but did not have complete knowledge about the subject.