“मैं पिछले ११ सालों से कूड़ा बीनने का काम कर रही हूँ। मेरी माँ भी यहीं काम करती थीं। उनके पास उन घिनौनी चीज़ों को दिन-प्रतिदिन छाँटने के लिए दस्ताने जैसी मूलभूत सुरक्षा भी उपलब्ध नहीं थी। खून से लथपथ सैनिटरी नैपकिन, छिपे हुए काँच के टुकड़े, मक्खियों से ढके गंदे डायपर, और कई ऐसी वस्तुएँ.. रोज-रोज सैकड़ों ऐसी बदबूदार चीजों को अपने हाथों से छाँट कर मेरी भूख मर जाती है। उपयोगकर्ताओं को यह ध्यान में रखना चाहिए है कि हम भी इंसान हैं, और इस बारे में अधिक जागरूक रहना चाहिए कि वे अपने कचरे का निपटान कैसे कर रहे हैं। क्या वे अपने कार्यस्थलों में ऐसी हानिकारक परिस्थितियों में काम करने के लिए सहमत होंगे?”
“I have been working as a waste picker for the last 11 years. My mother worked in the same occupation, too. And unlike me, she did not even have basic protection such as gloves to protect herself from the horrors she had to sort through on a day-to-day basis. Sanitary napkins soaked in blood, shards of glass hidden underneath other items, soiled diapers covered in fleas, amongst other things.. The everyday sight of hundreds of these and the nauseating stench and having to sort them manually makes me lose my appetite. Users need to understand that we are humans, too, and be more aware of how they are disposing of their waste. Would they be okay with such hazardous conditions at their workplaces?”
This is the appalling state that sanitary waste pickers throughout the country are forced to work in everyday. In the backdrop of the still very hushed conversations happening, if at all, around menstruation, sanitary waste management becomes a tricky and complex subject to deal with in a country like ours. Where, then, do we start tackling this (literal) mountain of a task?
Let us begin at the beginning.
What is sanitary waste?
The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, state that sanitary waste constitutes:
- used sanitary napkins and tampons,
- baby and adult diapers,
- condoms,
- incontinence sheets,
- blood-soaked cotton,
and other such similar waste, and is classified as dry waste. A recent and extremely comprehensive report by the Centre for Science and Environment on sanitary waste management in India estimates that approximately 336 million women and girls use about 1 billion sanitary napkins every month, or 12.3 billion sanitary napkins annually. This amounts to 137 thousand tonnes of used sanitary napkins in a year, or a colossal 377 tonnes (377,000 kilos) daily. These figures only take the use of sanitary pads into account, mind you, which is also going to be the focus of this article. Sanitary waste accounts for approximately 0.65 percent of India’s municipal solid waste. If the other items that make up sanitary waste are factored in, this figure is estimated to go up to nearly 3-4 percent.
Let’s dig a little deeper into why this is a big deal.
What are the components that make up a conventional sanitary pad?
Manufacturers use chlorine-bleached kraft or sulphate pulp for producing fluff pulp as an absorbent used to make disposable sanitary products. A number of deodorised and non-deodorised sanitary products available in the market today are made of synthetic fibre rayon. These deodorised products contain chemicals like organochlorines which have antibacterial activity, and a lot of these chemicals may be absorbed via the genitals over long-term use, causing detrimental health effects such as an imbalance of vaginal flora, rashes, inflammation of the pelvic region, reproductive issues, ovarian cancer, etc.
When buried in soil, these products kill the soil’s microflora and delay the process of decomposition as a consequence of their chemical composition. Moreover, the cotton used in their production is not 100% natural and may contain pesticides. An unimaginative yet clever strategy executed by a lot of mainstream manufacturers to cater to an environmentally-conscious market is to claim that their products are biodegradable, but not many users are aware that the terms ‘biodegradable’ and ‘compostable’ are not interchangeable. In other words, biodegradable products can decompose but might not do so completely, thus leaving behind residues. On the other hand, compostable products produce compost upon decomposing, which is rich in nutrients and beneficial for plants. Not to forget the fact that simply slapping the label “biodegradable” on the packaging is an oversimplification of an otherwise quite complex process – one that needs specific conditions to work; it does not take into account that the infrastructure across the country to ensure proper disposal and treatment is sorely lacking.
With such a myriad of substances used in the manufacturing of sanitary products and with plastic being one of the main constituents, treating sanitary waste comes with a list of dos and don’ts.
What does sanitary waste management and treatment look like in India at present?
The CSE report states the following as the primary methods of sanitary waste disposal:
- Routine waste disposal methods or dustbins (45%),
- thrown away in open spaces, drains/rivers/wells/lakes/roadside (23%),
- disposal by burning (15%),
- disposal by burying (25%),
- thrown away in toilets or pit latrine (9%).
And these are just official numbers. A lot of this waste ends up simply being dumped in dumpsites and landfills, mixed with biodegradables and other dry refuse. There is no clear data on how much sanitary waste is actually being generated, and how much of it is collected and treated. The current disposal practice that is considered safest is burning the waste in incinerators and dumping the ash in landfills specifically allocated for this purpose.
It appears that a lot is being done, and yet, a coherent and cohesive interlinking of these efforts is missing.
Efficient Sanitary Waste Management.
What are the challenges?
Different bodies and stakeholders will need to work together to make it work efficiently through an end-to-end approach with the help of centralised processes and policies, and demanding accountability from all those involved by defining clear roles and responsibilities, such as awareness and education on waste management (health and education departments), proper source segregation (citizens), waste collection and treatment systems (sanitation workers), data collection and quantification systems (government authorities). Furthermore, it is imperative to redesign existing infrastructure and services to facilitate processing the volume of waste generated by a country like ours.
In spite of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) having announced mandates for all stakeholders involved in the process, sanitary waste management continues to remain a fairly unorganised process in India since there are no clear guidelines on the specific protocol to be adopted for this purpose, or for on-ground adherence monitoring.
Source: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Another factor that poses a challenge at the user level is the stigma around the topic of menstruation. The above diagram shows that a lot of unsafe practices stem from a lack of awareness of safe disposal options, as well as due to sociocultural factors and deep-rooted beliefs. One such example is the belief that burning sanitary waste will threaten a woman’s ability to reproduce. This leads a lot of women and girls in rural areas to dump sanitary napkins in latrine pits or toilets, thus discouraging the practice of having them burnt safely in electric or small-scale clay pot incinerators. Many women are uncomfortable with the idea of others noticing the soiled napkins as it might bring them disgrace, resulting in them dumping these out in the open instead of using dustbins. In the meanwhile, the culprit in literate, upscale areas in cities seems to be a combination of thinking that proper disposal options are inconvenient, and a lax ‘someone else is cleaning up after me’ attitude.
The monstrous stigma attached to the idea of even using pads or any other sanitary products in the first place continues to manifest till date across cities and villages alike in the form of these products being wrapped in black bags at pharmacies or being carried covertly from the classroom to the toilet. As if hiding the product will erase the very existence of this reality for the convenience of the country’s non-menstruators.
And which stakeholder ultimately ends up bearing the biggest brunt of this mismanagement? It is the sanitary waste pickers.
Dignity of labour is a right, not a choice
Sanitary waste mismanagement doesn’t just pose a hazard to our health and environment, but also to the dignity of sanitary waste handlers. Due to the waste not being correctly segregated at source (by users), most of it ends up mixed with other dry waste. Hundreds of tonnes of soiled sanitary pads, tampons, diapers and condoms are mostly thrown away without being wrapped, which consequently forces the waste handlers to pick them up with their bare hands. It is a concern not only to their dignity but can also have serious implications for their health. Manually handling potentially contaminated sanitary waste exposes them to microorganisms such as staphylococcus, E. coli, salmonella, and other pathogens that are responsible for life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis, typhoid, tetanus and the like. So many of them report feeling nauseated after repeatedly having to tackle this waste soaked in different bodily fluids including blood and faeces, resulting in frequent loss of appetite, and exposing them to the risk of other health issues like recurring headaches, loose motions, fever and bacterial infections. In the face of such hazardous work conditions, their arduous labour continues.
Let us imagine, for a moment, that sanitary workers have decided they’ve had enough, and we’re left to fend for ourselves. And over days and weeks and months, our consumption of these products only ends up creating bigger and bigger heaps of waste around us in all the spaces that we constantly inhabit – our homes, offices, streets, restaurants, tourism spots, and what have you – until we find a way to clean up after ourselves. Get a picture of the chaos that would ensue? It doesn’t make for a very appealing scenario.
It is the invaluable efforts and resilience of these sanitary waste pickers to which we owe the privilege of not having to take responsibility for dealing with the waste we ourselves generate, and with no direct consequences to face. It is high time we take a look at our role in this. What would be helpful is to take a look at alternative options to traditional sanitary products and follow in the footsteps of cities that have come up with innovative practical protocols to tackle this issue.
Leading by example: Best practices by Karad and Pune
Karad and Pune, both cities in Maharashtra, have been identified as the top 2 cities by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) for best practices with regard to sanitary waste management in India.
The Red Dot Campaign in Pune is a one-of-its-kind initiative implemented in 2017 by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in collaboration with Solid Waste Collection and Handling (SWaCH). The campaign aims to inculcate safe sanitary waste management practices in the citizens of Pune by educating and encouraging them to wrap their sanitary waste in a newspaper marked with a big red dot, so that waste pickers can identify sanitary waste easily and send it for corresponding treatment. The primary objective of this is to provide sanitary waste pickers dignity, identity and voice. As the name suggests, the red dot signifies a massive change for the better: It symbolises urgency, responsibility, dignity, and cleanliness. The campaign website also features a video explaining the idea in Indian Sign Language, which we think is a fantastic step towards inclusivity!
Karad, a city in the Satara district of Maharashtra, has successfully managed 100% segregation, collection and separate processing of sanitary and biomedical waste. The Karad Municipal Council (KMC), in collaboration with the Karad Hospital Association, set up their own biomedical waste processing facility to treat the sanitary and biomedical waste being generated in the city. The KMC identified the need for education and awareness at the school level to train menstruators right during the age when they start menstruating, implemented extensive capacity building of waste handlers and transportation workers and education of households with theoretical and practical training. It ensured that all citizens got trained in correct segregation through regular information, education and communication (IEC) monitoring, thus facilitating an end-to-end successful protocol, right down to the ash from the incinerator being buried into the biomedical facility landfill. This is no mean feat and is a stellar example of what is possible with efficient planning, methodical use of resources and competent coordination amongst all stakeholders.
Waste management cannot happen in isolation and is not the responsibility of any one stakeholder.
Facilitating safer work conditions for sanitary waste pickers and enabling proper waste segregation and treatment necessitates not only a systemic change on the part of the government and municipalities, but at the same time a behavioural change on the part of individuals and society. We can all do our bit by being mindful when disposing of sanitary waste, or any waste for that matter, and by starting a conversation with family members, friends, colleagues about co-creating a safer waste management system for all those involved.
How can Badlaav SRF help?
Badlaav Social Reform Foundation is a not-for-profit Non-Governmental Organization registered under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013. Since our inception in 2019, we have created measurable on-ground impact and brought about profound behavioral changes through interactive educational seminars, training sessions, institution of waste management systems, and providing sustainable menstrual products.
We at Badlaav engage ourselves not only with the social concerns of menstruation but also strive to reduce the amount of waste generated by menstruation. By distribution of sustainable menstrual products, we enable menstruators to make an informed choice and reduce the use of conventional period products which are detrimental to the health of the users as well as the environment.
Article by Tanvi Hegade