It was the perfect crime scene getaway.
A run to the local pharmacy, a hushed order after a quick judgmental-stranger scan, a rushed black polythene bag packaging, and a run back home to further hide ‘the dirty secret’ in an even more secret place.
That’s no contraband smuggling we are talking about here. That’s how the experience of buying a sanitary napkin in India used to be. And perhaps still is in many places. Across the globe, almost 1.8 billion women menstruate, with close to 300-350 million women menstruating on any given day.
Yet, period talk is taboo.
But while we were busy focusing so hard on hushing the taboo topic, we completely ignored the actual problem around menstruation – The pollution caused by single-use menstrual products. Did you know that a menstruating individual uses close to 16,000 single-use menstrual products in their lifetime? The Menstrual Hygiene Alliance of India (MHAI) has approximated that there are 336 million menstruating women in India, of which 36% use disposable sanitary napkins. This means that India alone produces 12.3 billion disposable sanitary napkins, most of which are not biodegradable and take 800-900 years to decompose.
Your Period Is Natural, But Your Period Products May Not Be!
It is time to address the plastic in our periods. Yes, the most popular single-use sanitary pads are made of super absorbent polymers and come in plastic packaging. Even the wings that keep them in place have non-biodegradable adhesives. Tampons come wrapped in plastic as well. Each tampon is further encased in a plastic applicator with a plastic string dangling from its end.
At the end of your monthly cycle, these discarded period products add significantly to the non-biodegradable plastic waste in our landfills. This also leads to health and hygiene issues with sanitation workers, who may not always have adequate protective gear, being exposed to these forms of waste.
The Real Stigma Is Not Your Period.
It’s the plastic that goes into making period products.
Until the early 2000s, it was difficult to procure eco-friendly sanitary products. The awareness of plastic pollution caused by sanitary napkins was even lesser. However, over time, and with the advancement of technology and an increase in the number of conscious individuals, the need to make period hygiene environment friendly gained ground. A lot of entrepreneurs adopted the ethos of sustainability, which led to a rise in the number of brands making a spectrum of sustainable menstrual products.
But Where Should I Start?
It can be an anxious experience to try new period care products. You must have heard, and rightly so, about menstrual cups being the best eco-friendly alternative to disposable pads and tampons. They even help save money over the long term because the best ones are reusable for up to 10 years. However, many menstruating individuals find it invasive, and for most people, it takes some trial and error to find the perfect fit. For such individuals, the good news is that reusable cloth pads have made a refined comeback, thanks to a host of local Indian brands. Depending on your comfort level, you can choose either reusable pads or menstrual cups/ discs, and the list below can guide you in this journey.
It is natural to experience a learning curve and that’s fine. Start slow, take your time, but consider bidding goodbye to single-use menstrual products.
It is natural to experience a learning curve and that’s fine. Start slow, take your time, but consider bidding goodbye to single-use menstrual products.
Hello, Sustainable & Safe Menstruation.
Plastic-free July may be over but a plastic-free lifestyle is a year-round, lifelong journey. We have written earlier about what sustainable periods are all about. We now invite you to join the sustainable menstruation revolution by switching to Indian brands that have ditched plastic, taken strides toward creating awareness around it, and are manufacturing safe and sustainable menstrual products at affordable prices:
1. StoneSoup
In their own words, they have diverted 12 million pads from the landfill, and because of their cloth bags, there are 5 million fewer plastic bags in the world.
With sustainable menstrual hygiene as their priority, co-founders of Stonesoup, Malini Parmar and Smita Kulkarni pivoted from being ‘eco-warriors to eco-entrepreneurs. Their brand offers silicone menstrual cups, reusable cloth pads and panty liners. They also offer menstrual health awareness-building sessions and livelihood programmes for women through their GreenDot Project which aims at establishing sustainable menstrual period care units across India.
2. Boondh
Founded in 2016, Boondh is a social enterprise working not just on sustainable menstrual products, but menstrual literacy, advocacy, policy and programming. Through their Twogether Programme, they encourage sponsoring a cup for someone less privileged while The Crimson Wave is a unique menstrual art exhibition that seeks to bring the conversation on menstruation into the mainstream. With their range of menstrual cups and cloth pads, you can switch to products that are better for the body, the planet and the pocket!
3. Carmesi
Founded in 2018 by Tanvi Johri and Rikshav Borah, Carmesi is known for addressing female hygiene through an environmentally conscious approach. It is India’s first brand of premium, all-natural and biodegradable hygiene products, including sanitary pads, tampons, menstrual cups and cramp-relief heat patches made of natural ingredients. They also help you bid goodbye to plastic bags because each Carmesi pad comes in a re-sealable disposal bag made of eco-friendly and recyclable raw kraft paper that offers a hygienic and environment-friendly way of disposal.
4. Sirona
Remember Peebuddy, the product that made peeing in public places hygienic for women? The revolutionary product was from the house of Sirona, founded by Deep Bajaj in 2017. Through their sustainable approach to menstrual hygiene in India, they have come up with a wide range of menstrual and intimate hygiene products like safe and reusable menstrual cups that can last up to 10 years. They even offer sanitary disposal bags made with oxo-biodegradable material, which gets degraded biologically without leaving any fragments behind. So if you want to make a green switch, let Sirona guide you!
5. Gaaia
Offering menstrual cupsthat are designed especially for first-time cup users, Gaaia believes in the philosophy of less waste and fewer chemicals. With cups made with FDA-approved 100% medical-grade silicone, Gaaia has taken big steps in making period hygiene sustainable and accessible in India. Their brand philosophy promises a toxin-free life, for the menstruating individual and our planet.
6. Naari Pads
Did you know that because sanitary pads are classified as medical products in India, they are not legally obliged to disclose their components? This means that most of us are unaware that when we buy a disposable sanitary pad, we buy a product that contains around 90% plastic. This plastic blocks airflow to the vagina and reacts with blood, resulting in a bad odour. And most of us thought it was the blood that caused it. To fight this, Naari has a range of reusable cloth pads for all kinds of flow, and organic panty liners in quirky prints. They also offer cloth pad soap that makes washing your pads so much safer. But that’s not all. Our favourite part about these innovatively designed pads is that they are compostable at the end of their life cycle!
7. Eco Femme
Imagine a world for menstruating individuals in which one doesn’t have to choose between loving their body and their planet. Eco Femme attempts to do exactly that with its range of day pads, night pads, and panty liners made in certified organic cotton. Through their Pad for Pad sessions, designed to give girls the skills to manage their periods hygienically and with dignity, they work towards removing the stigma attached to menstruation. To add to that, when you buy from Eco Femme’s range of reusable cotton pads, you help sustain the livelihood of rural women who help stitch these pads.
8. Lemme Be
Standing true to its name, this brand has established a voice that’s feminist, strongly opinionated, and independent. With fun and sassy packaging and colours that pop out, Lemme Be wants to revolutionise the way we think about menstrual hygiene. Lemme Be is also the first brand to bring the concept of a menstrual disc to India.
So what is a menstrual disc? Both menstrual cups and discs are used to collect menstrual fluids rather than absorb them. But, as against the bell-shaped cup that is inserted in the vaginal canal below the cervix, a menstrual disc is placed a bit farther up the vagina. It sits diagonally and has a flexible body to collect the menstrual flow.
We would like to highlight here that each menstruating individual’s body is different. So even though both cups and discs are safe, sustainable and made from medical-grade materials, experiment and choose what’s comfortable for you.
9. Azah
Made from 100% organic cotton, all of Azah’s products, like their period panties and sanitary pads, are chemical-free and environment-friendly. By bidding goodbye to plastic packaging and replacing it with biodegradable disposable packaging, this brand has taken a big step towards sustainability. They also claim that their eco-friendly products are a rash-free alternative to conventional period products.
Source: Azah
10. Asan
Designed by engineers at the Harvard Innovation Lab, the Asan Cup intends to make life asan (simple) for menstruating individuals, while preserving the planet. The menstrual cup they offer has a unique ring-shaped stem that makes it easy to use. What is even more impressive is that for each cup that you buy, they donate one to a girl in need. Their commitment to sustainability extends to their packaging as well which is made from 95% recyclable material and a cloth pouch that is made from 100% natural cotton.
Bleed Free, Bleed Green.
Period poverty refers to a lack of access to menstrual education and sanitary products. In India, only 42% of Indian women have access to sanitary pads for reasons of social and cultural taboos, ignorance, poverty and a general disregard for women’s health. To add to these concerns is the fact that India alone generates 12.3 billion disposable sanitary napkins every year! Menstruation activists and brands with the purpose of enabling access to safe period products are addressing these twin challenges.
The above Indian brands are making sustainable period hygiene more accessible and taking forward the green period movement.
It’s Not A Taboo. Period.
The first step we can take towards making period hygiene more sustainable is by destigmatising it. Along with normalising menstruation, we must start talking about how periods can be a safe experience, for the individual, and for the planet as well.
It is time to make the shift to a zero-waste and plastic-free period. We deserve it and so does our planet. It’s about bloody time!
To know more about sustainable period hygiene, read our in-depth piece here.
