Sustainable menstruation is in the spotlight. And, Coimbatore Parenting Network (CPN), a peer support group on Facebook with over 7000 members, has put the city on the map at the first Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) summit in Delhi. “We won the Unsung Hero Award for our voluntary work in spreading awareness on menstrual cups and cloth pads, besides helping women switch over from disposable sanitary napkins to sustainable options,” says Swati Jagdish, group administrator. Swati along with K. Kumutha Chandrika, a CPN trustee, received the award at the summit.
CPN holds regular online sessions to remove taboos related to menstruation and informs and guides women about female anatomy, menstrual hygiene and sanitation. It addresses their fears and inhibitions while choosing a sustainable option...
“Did you know that a good menstrual cup has a lifetime up to 10 years without any health hazards,” asks Kumutha. “That way, there is zero waste sent out. Our focus has been on an urban audience that is aware that tonnes of menstrual waste goes to the landfill. But at the summit, we also learnt about the rural set up where waste management is better as women still use re-usable cloth. But the challenge there is often lack of awareness on sanitation, hygiene, and safe use of cloth pads that stick to bio-degradable standards and not just any scrap cloth,” she explains.
The summit organised by Gramalaya, a Tiruchi-based NGO, brought together government departments, NGOs, donors, and corporate groups who are interested in the field of promoting MHM. Gramalaya has imparted MHM education to over five lakh women and girls in rural and urban areas and has worked exclusively as part of UNICEF’s WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in schools).
The objective is to achieve long-term solutions to handle menstrual waste that goes to the landfill. And, explore safe and eco-friendly menstrual products that can be made available to the over 300 million menstruating women in India. “Sanitary waste disposal is an increasing problem as the plastic in the disposable sanitary napkins are not bio-degradable. It leads to health and environmental hazards. While sanitary napkin vending machines are placed in many schools, there are no incinerators to ensure safe disposal. A lot of NGOs are active in the rural areas,” says Swati.
- It is estimated that there are 336 million menstruating women in India, of which 36 per cent use disposable sanitary napkins — that is 121 million women
- Over one billion non-compostable sanitary pads are making their way to urban sewerage systems, landfills, rural fields and water bodies in India every month
- Green the Red is a volunteer-led, pan-India campaign to make women aware of healthy and sustainable menstrual products and help them make better choices
- SaathiPads makes biodegradable sanitary napkins in India and provides employment and livelihood for women along with sustainable menstrual care
- EcoFemme makes washable cloth pads (it takes 500-800 years to decompose a disposable napkin), and promises a dignified livelihood to women who stitch the pads
The movie Padman came up at the session, about Coimbatore-based social entrepreneur Arunachalam Murugananthan, the inventor of low-cost sanitary napkin vending machine who reached out to rural areas on MHM. “But it was also brought to light that the vending machines don’t work in the long run. And, because of a lack of system for safe disposal, used napkins are often dumped in open streams or in farmlands,” says Swati who addressed the gathering on ‘Best practices in MHM’ and the importance of sexuality education for parents. “Another speaker shared how she experimented with 16 different types of so-called cloth pads in her backyard to study the time taken for them to decompose. All of them were non bio-degradable!”
“There are many online courses that use a practical learning approach on comprehensive sexuality health education. At CPN, we have volunteers who can enrol for such courses. But, to take it to a bigger audience we need the support of corporates,” says Swati.
Good for the earth
Eighteeen-year-old Ishana Ismail, an entrepreneur from Coimbatore, makes cotton bio-degradable and toxin-free sanitary napkins. Manufactured in her company under the brand name Ana Cloth Pads, they will soon be available on Amazon and Flipkart.
Ishana enlists the help of women tailors in her neighbourhood who make a living out of stitching Ana cloth pads. “I was shocked when I read about the health hazards posed by disposable napkins. These products are made of more than 90 percent plastic with super absorbent polymers and non-woven plastic components. Chemicals like dioxin, and pesticides and other endocrine disruptors go into their making making it bad for both the environment and women’s health.”
“I saw YouTube videos on how to make a cloth pad. I made one for personal use,” says the youngster who runs a boutique Ana Creations where she designs and stocks lehengas, blouses, frocks, kurtas and other ready made fabrics.
“It's my dream to have a full-fledged garment unit and give employment to women. Once I tried out the cloth pads, I made them for my customers. Based on their feedback, and many rounds of trial-and-error (adding more layers of cotton on the inside) I finalised the design.” Ishana now employs 15 women. She sources her materials from mills in Tirupur. “We wash the fabric, dry them and then sterilise with UV light. Then, we cut it in varying sizes before stitching them together.”
She plans to approach schools and colleges to create awareness on switching to sustainable cloth pads. “This will help to cut down usage of disposable sanitary napkins to some extent. I want to also approach corporates to help us reach out through their CSR initiatives.” A single cloth pad costs Rs.120 and is available at Ana Creations at Ganapathy. It can be reused for one year.
For students, it is offered at a subsidised price. To know more, call: 94889-70671
