To,
Om Prakash R Patil, State Health Director
Dr. K. Sudhakar, Health Minister of Karnataka
BS Yediyurappa, CM of Karnataka
(This petition is in collaboration with Stonesoup - they aim to make periods cash-free, trash-free, and rash-free.)
“3 years back, I was working with a large trust working on menstrual hygiene in small towns and villages around it. As I distributed sanitary pads to the school students, almost all students asked me one question -- “where do I dispose of them?” There was no answer as they didn’t even have a municipality pickup. Even large municipalities like Bangalore don’t get this waste pickup and processing done! I decided going forward, I would only be a part of a sustainable project.”
---Padma Arun, Head - Stonesoup Trust.
This leads us to a very important question, how do we dispose of sanitary napkins?
Do we throw them away? From your dustbins, it goes to a landfill somewhere and it will be lying there for 500-800 years.
Do you flush them? Drain blockages occur often due to disposable sanitary napkins or diapers.
Do you incinerate them in local incinerators?
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, they can only be safely incinerated at a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius and above while local incinerators typically reach only 100-200 degrees celsius.
Do you bury them? Disposable sanitary pads are not biodegradable.
While big cities like Bangalore are still ramping up to improve their waste management system, tier-2 and tier-3 cities can suffer a lot of damage because of ill-disposed sanitary pads.
These hazards are not present with cloth pads. And together, we can make it possible to bring in cloth pads for young women in Karnataka.
Reusable period care products like reusable cloth pads and menstrual cups are environmentally friendly, safer for health, economical for the purse, and last longer. They reduce environmental as well as health hazards by a significant margin. Sustainable menstrual cups are not only cost-effective for young students, but also improve menstrual hygiene.
Therefore, we request State Health Director Om Prakash R Patil and Education Minister, Mr. Suresh Kumar, to introduce and distribute sustainable menstrual products - reusable cloth pads kits to 17 lakh government school girls in Karnataka.
This will create great benefits for these students. Each reusable cloth pad kit lasts for 4-5 years and students would not need to go scouting for pads. Further, it will save 1,53,00,00,000 disposable sanitary pads from going to the landfill. Each reusable period kit saves around 900 disposable sanitary pads from going to the landfill for 5 years.
Working with and pushing the government can help us reach out to more people who menstruate, than if we act alone. And here’s why we need to act together-- in 2013, the Karnataka government started a scheme to distribute pads to at least 17, 00, 000 students in Karnataka.
However, these were disposable, one-time-use regular pads. Further, with schools shutting down due to the pandemic, students are unable to access menstrual hygiene products now. We need to change this.
With citizens backing us, we can take this petition to the State Health Director and the Education Minister and ask them to take action.
Show your support, sign now!
Sources:
Menstrual Waste Disposal in India - The TQH Report
Sustainable Menstruation - The Impact of Menstrual Products on the Environment - The Medium
Karnataka's sanitary napkin scheme comes to a halt - The Hindu
To,
Om Prakash R Patil, State Health Director
Dr. K. Sudhakar, Health Minister of Karnataka
BS Yediyurappa, CM of Karnataka
(This petition is in collaboration with Stonesoup - they aim to make periods cash-free, trash-free, and rash-free.)
“3 years back, I was working with a large trust working on menstrual hygiene in small towns and villages around it. As I distributed sanitary pads to the school students, almost all students asked me one question -- “where do I dispose of them?” There was no answer as they didn’t even have a municipality pickup. Even large municipalities like Bangalore don’t get this waste pickup and processing done! I decided going forward, I would only be a part of a sustainable project.”
---Padma Arun, Head - Stonesoup Trust.
This leads us to a very important question, how do we dispose of sanitary napkins?
Do we throw them away? From your dustbins, it goes to a landfill somewhere and it will be lying there for 500-800 years.
Do you flush them? Drain blockages occur often due to disposable sanitary napkins or diapers.
Do you incinerate them in local incinerators?
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, they can only be safely incinerated at a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius and above while local incinerators typically reach only 100-200 degrees celsius.
Do you bury them? Disposable sanitary pads are not biodegradable.
While big cities like Bangalore are still ramping up to improve their waste management system, tier-2 and tier-3 cities can suffer a lot of damage because of ill-disposed sanitary pads.
These hazards are not present with cloth pads. And together, we can make it possible to bring in cloth pads for young women in Karnataka.
Reusable period care products like reusable cloth pads and menstrual cups are environmentally friendly, safer for health, economical for the purse, and last longer. They reduce environmental as well as health hazards by a significant margin. Sustainable menstrual cups are not only cost-effective for young students, but also improve menstrual hygiene.
Therefore, we request State Health Director Om Prakash R Patil and Education Minister, Mr. Suresh Kumar, to introduce and distribute sustainable menstrual products - reusable cloth pads kits to 17 lakh government school girls in Karnataka.
This will create great benefits for these students. Each reusable cloth pad kit lasts for 4-5 years and students would not need to go scouting for pads. Further, it will save 1,53,00,00,000 disposable sanitary pads from going to the landfill. Each reusable period kit saves around 900 disposable sanitary pads from going to the landfill for 5 years.
Working with and pushing the government can help us reach out to more people who menstruate, than if we act alone. And here’s why we need to act together-- in 2013, the Karnataka government started a scheme to distribute pads to at least 17, 00, 000 students in Karnataka.
However, these were disposable, one-time-use regular pads. Further, with schools shutting down due to the pandemic, students are unable to access menstrual hygiene products now. We need to change this.
With citizens backing us, we can take this petition to the State Health Director and the Education Minister and ask them to take action.
Show your support, sign now!
Sources:
Menstrual Waste Disposal in India - The TQH Report
Sustainable Menstruation - The Impact of Menstrual Products on the Environment - The Medium
Karnataka's sanitary napkin scheme comes to a halt - The Hindu