‘Used sanitary napkins pose serious health hazards’
WOMEN’S menstrual hygiene products are becoming a public health and environmental menace, raising questions on how they can be disposed safely.
A study by Delhi-based NGO Chintan has found that nearly 432 million pieces or 9,000 tonnes of used sanitary napkins are generated every month in various Indian towns and cities. This is openly dumped in landfills where ragpickers, most of them children, come in contact with them, contracting diseases through various kinds of bacteria.
Further, the government has no policy on treating menstrual waste. It is neither bracketed as biomedical waste (which needs to be incinerated or given deep burial as per the Central Pollution Control Board guidelines), nor categorised as plastic waste (which puts the onus on the manufacturing company for its end disposal). As a result, they continue to choke our landfills.
Bharati Chaturvedi of Chintan said: “A sanitary napkin comprises over 90 per cent crude oil plastic with the rest as chlorinebleached wood or cotton pulp. This multilayered product does not degenerate even after decades in the soil.”
"Currently in India, it is neither segregated as wet nor dry waste under the Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000. Mixing it with general household waste, alongside other extremely harmful bodily waste such as condoms, bandaids, diapers, adult diapers, cotton swabs, exposes ragpickers to a range of dangerous ailments. Physical health apart, it is also an affront to human dignity.”
As far as the major manufacturers of sanitary napkins are concerned, none is complying with the principle of ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ as per the Plastic Waste ( Manufacture, Usage and Waste Management) Rules, 2011. Bharati said: “The rules are applicable to multi-layered plastic packaging and plastic bags, and we believe that sanitary napkin packaging falls within the purview of this act as they are a multi-layered plastic product used to contain an item, in this case, menstrual fluids.”
The government must look at ways of tackling this problem.
“Alternative products that do not contain disposable plastic can be promoted. The government must ensure the correct disposal of mainstream sanitary napkins within the existing waste management system. Ways of bioremediation may also be considered,” Bharati added.
'Nearly 432m dumped in landfills every month'
Reproduced From Mail Today. Copyright 2015. MTNPL. All rights reserved.
