In a study conducted by Toxic Link, 84% of waste workers in the capital find sanitary pads in regular household garbage. The study was done by NGO, with the title ‘Turning red to green: Sustainable periods’. The NGO is known to have a record of past works in environmental poisoning. As per the organization, the women population should be more inclined towards the usage of healthier sanitary options like organic and cloth pads that will further help reduce the burden on landfills.
One sanitary pad carries harmful compounds and plastic waste equivalent to approximately four plastic bags. In a major capital like Delhi, one would expect the sanitary waste to be segregated but contrary to that happening, the waste reaches the landfill as a whole. 70% of waste workers find menstrual debris mixed with household litter.
As per studies, in a big populated country like India, around 12 billion sanitary pads get disposed of every year, which is parallel to almost 113,000 tonnes of litter. Approximate, around 80% female population of urban India are using inorganic sanitary pads. Though easily disposable, the sanitary pads contain harmful chemicals that can become a cause of multiple health issues related to the female body, ranging from nausea to physical fatigue, to even cancer.
The waste incinerators used for sanitary disposal are being used without proper knowledge of guidelines. Burning sanitary pads at the wrong temperature can cause the emission of harmful carcinogens. Usually, these incinerators are found in schools, public toilets, and other such places.
Many NGOs working with educational institutes and hospitals, while are working to spread the importance of menstrual hygiene among both male and female populations, fail to notice the point of sanitary disposal. They extend the idea of using plastic-built sanitary pads as the hygienic choice for women. More so ever, these NGOs, then, end up distributing free plastic sanitary pads to young girls and women as an alternative to cloth pads and such. These organizations and health systems end up missing the inorganic quality of sanitary pads, which could pose a major health risk to both women and nature.
Toxic Links also conducted a survey where the data showed that around 39% of women throw their sanitary napkins mixed with their household litter, just after wrapping them up. 57.5 of women do not know the concept of menstrual waste and its after-effects, while 89% of women were found to have incomplete knowledge about the issue, but still far from the real issue.
