Zero Waste. Period

A health and environmental project

A project to educate women and girls in Ladakh on periods and menstrual hygiene, create awareness on the impacts of single-use menstrual products on health and the environment, advocate for menstrual cups as a “No Rash, No Cash, and No Trash” solution to the problem of menstrual waste from single-use menstrual products, and enable to switch to menstrual cups.

Developed by:
Delnaaz Irani (irani.delnaaz@gmail.com)

Implemented by:
Zero Waste Ladakh

Supported by:
District Panchayat Office (DPO) - Leh
Municipal Committee Leh (MCL)
Implementation area:
Ladakh, India

Project period:
2023 - onwards

Objectives

To educate women and girls about periods and menstrual hygiene.
To create awareness about the harmful impacts of single-use sanitary pads on health and the environment.
To create awareness of sustainable menstrual products and enable the switch to these products.

Background

Single-use sanitary pads contain plastic and chemicals, which cause rash and other health-related issues. They involve a substantial recurring cost, which women from economically weak backgrounds can ill afford. They also generate huge amounts of waste, which is a tremendous hazard to the environment since there is no way to treat the waste other than by incineration.

On average, a female uses about 20 pads per period, which means she generates about 240 pads a year and nearly 10,000 pads in her lifetime, considering the average age at which women hit menopause in the United States.

Source: WaterAid, Menstrual Health Alliance India, Development Solutions Inc. (September 2019), “Menstrual Waste Management”.

Menstrual waste disposal is a massive problem in Ladakh. Most women dispose of used pads by burning, burying them, throwing them in the open or water bodies, and flushing in the toilets. When thrown in the waste collection truck, they contaminate other wastes and pose a health risk to waste workers.

Incinerating menstrual waste, although promoted by the government, is not a sustainable solution as it produces toxic gasses, because most sanitary pads contain up to 90% plastic.

To address the problem of menstrual waste, the most effective and long-lasting solution is education and awareness for minimizing and preventing menstrual waste: women and girls can be educated about the health and environmental impacts of single-use sanitary pads and be enabled to switch to sustainable alternatives, like menstrual cups.

The menstrual cup does not contain plastic or chemicals, therefore, is hygienic and healthy. A cup can last for more than 10 years. Switching to the menstrual cup can unburden a woman from buying pads every month and end her menstrual waste footprint for life.

Activities

Developing Outreach Materials
With the help of field visits and interviews, information will be gathered about the current practices of menstrual hygiene management and menstrual waste disposal in Ladakh, based on which, outreach materials will be developed, addressing the topics:
- periods and menstrual hygiene,
- health and environmental impacts of single-use sanitary pads,
- usage and benefits of sustainable menstrual products.
Conducting Awareness Sessions
Using the outreach materials, a series of awareness sessions will be conducted with women and girls in Ladakh.
The structure of the awareness sessions is as follows:
- Start with the subject of female anatomy and why menstruation happens.
- Presentation on the subject of menstrual products, including a comparison between single-use products and reusable products.
- Introduction to the menstrual cup and how to use it with a live demo.
- Video introduction by Dr Meenakshi Bharath
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3DfVgZstWw&list=PPSV
- Demonstrate the cup on the uterus model and get the participants to feel the cup in their hands to encourage them to ask questions.
- Go over the common issues faced by new cup users and how everyone has different experiences with it.
- Experience and knowledge-sharing by cup users present in the session.
- Sale/distribution of cups to the interested participants after they demo it on the model.
- Collect contact details of participants for follow-up interaction.
- Invite participants to fill out a questionnaire for project related data collection.
- Get feedback from participants after the session to know their initial response.
Follow-up Support
While the first challenge in switching from single-use sanitary pads to menstrual cups is a lack of information and awareness among women and girls, the second challenge is the lack of support that can enable them to overcome difficulties in becoming menstrual cup users.

Many interested cup users cannot transition because of problems in using the cup initially. As a result, they give up on their effort and do not get to experience the comfort, freedom and joy of hygienic and zero-waste periods.

Therefore, after the awareness sessions and distribution/sale of menstrual cups to participants, they will be provided support through WhatsApp groups, phone calls, video calls and in-person meetings, to help them overcome difficulties and switch successfully to menstrual cups.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment

Outreach
The more women and girls reached out through the project, the higher the overall impact of the project. Even though some participants who join the awareness sessions might not use the menstrual cup, they would at least acquire knowledge of the hazards of single-use sanitary pads and can be a medium of spreading the word to others. They might even consider switching to the menstrual cup at a later stage. To monitor the project outreach, a record will be maintained of the number of the participants joining the awareness sessions.
Switch
The number of participants who buy/get the menstrual cup after the awareness sessions will indicate how many understood and felt convinced of the benefits and need of giving up single-use sanitary pads. Out of that number, some might not use menstrual cups eventually, yet opting for the cup is evidence of their understanding and intention to change and can be taken as an impact created. The support following the awareness sessions will yield some figures of how many switched over successfully to menstrual cups. Based on those figures, it is possible to calculate the menstrual waste generation prevented in a month/a year/a village. These two data sets would show the most tangible impact of the project.