Past many decades we have seen how Sanitary Napkin manufacturing companies have been deriding the age-old practice of using cloth during the monthly menstrual cycle by women. Ready made napkins found a good market for being easy to obtain, hygienic and have been promoted as something which liberates women from some sort of shackles. But it seems it is time to pause and look back how ready-made sanitary pads are no more a symbol of any sort of ‘liberty’ or ‘coming out of age’ or finding ‘wings’ as these have been promoted.

“We are paying a heavy price for this so-called liberty in the name of promoting ready-made sanitary pads. Not only are these ready-made pads posing serious health hazards due to chemicals used in their making there is a heavy load which the environment is bearing due to non-biodegradable materials used in the making of sanitary napkins,” points out a naturist, shanti Mala from Dehradoon who works with rural health workers in Uttarakhand.

 According to the United Nations reports on an average, every woman using sanitary pads contributes 60 kilograms of pad waste in her lifetime, generating 100,000 tons of waste annually. With approximately 375 million girls and women in the reproductive age group and most of them menstruating an estimated 1.021 billion pads are disposed monthly and majority of which is non-biodegradable in nature.According to Menstrual Health Alliance India, one sanitary pad could take 500 to 800 years to decompose as the plastic used is non-biodegradable and can lead to health and environmental hazards.

Home made Sanitary napkins, hence are being promoted for not only benefiting the environment but also the users. Reusable pads have been found to be cost effective and can be made at home. However there are still some myths around reusable pads such as, are reusable pads hygienic? Are they feasible? Are these pads absorbent? and hence many menstruators turn to disposable sanitary napkins again and again.

To make women aware of the benefits of reusable pads various organisations such as Martha Farrel Foundation in association with PRIYA, recently conducted workshops ‘ Menstrual Health and Hygiene and Reproductive Rights’ across India and trained women in making reusable pads from cotton cloths at home. The course was designed and conducted by Dr Madhurima Bhadra, a senior Public Health & Gender Practitioner and the director and producer of The Vagina Monologues, 2010.

Dr Bobby Luthra Sinha( Social Anthropologist, Political Scientist and Independent Researcher), who participated in one such workshops and is herself designing menstrual health programme for rural women for 2023 says,”use of home-made pads come with certain precautions which should be kept in mind. First washing it with proper soap which is not composed of too much chemicals which can negatively affect the intimate body parts of the person using the pad. Second,  it should be rinsed thoroughly with clean water, since contaminated water can undo the benefits. Third, sure the pad is dried in direct sunlight so that one can ensure it is germ free”

However there are certain downsides of using reusable pads such as the non availability of water in rural areas, even if there is sufficient water, it might be polluted.  In office  washrooms the water should be  clean and non contaminated. After washing, the pads need to be dried up in sunlight for next use. “There is also this stigma and shame attached with drying of pads in open spaces which becomes a problem”, points out Dr Bobby. She emphasises that the policy makers need to step in here as these are the policy makers who should ensure that women in rural areas are provided fresh water sources, and make offices in urban areas menstruators friendly, so that they can safely use reusable pads without shame.

Majority of Women however feel that, women will always be a part of the change and they want to contribute to the cause of environment as long as the policy makers also support women in basic needs such as clean water sources in rural areas or clean washrooms in urban spaces, only then will they think about switching to reusable pads which help in ensuring that they do not use disposable sanitary napkins to reduce non biodegradable waste.