Karnataka: Scientific disposal of sanitary napkins remains challenge; sustainable alternatives being explored

Mysuru: "About 50 per cent of households don't segregate sanitary napkin pads/diapers. It's inevitable for me to do it" shared Palani, a Pourakarmika of Alanahalli Gram Panchayat, who collects waste.

Karnataka government has given administrative approval for the last quarter of financial year 2025-26 to purchase and distribute sanitary napkin pads to students of class 6 and 10, PUC at Government, Government aided schools, colleges and government hostels at the district level under the Shuchi programme of State department of Health and family welfare.

They have approved to purchase pads (24 per student for three months) at the cost of Rs 10.11 crore (Rs 30.47 for each unit with 10 pads) for 19,64,507 students in the State including 82,658 students in Mysuru district as per the order.

Scientific disposal of these pads with adequate precautionary measures remains a challenge. While people often don't segregate them at source, these pads pose health risks to pourakarmikas who collect and segregate them as they are biohazardous.

Also since civic bodies dispose of these pads via deep burial, due to plastic content in them, their long term impact on the environment is another challenge. People demand for incinerators at schools from the Government. Health department is exploring sustainable alternatives for these pads.

The Shuchi-an ambitious-State Government funded programme which was launched in 2013-14, was halted for three years from 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24. It was relaunched by Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao in 2024.

The pads were distributed directly by the Health department at State level to all these institutions from December 2024. Due to technical issues, the distribution was paused from August 2025. Now the health department will procure them at district level and distribute them to institutions.

As part of a sustainable alternative, they have taken measures to distribute reusable pads on pilot basis to about 80,0000 students in seven districts with the support of NGOs and CSR funds. They had taken another project pilot basis and distributed menstrual cups to students in few districts like Dakshina Kannada and Chamarajanagar according to officials of the Health department.

Incinerators sought

DDPI of Mysuru district Uday Kumar said that they are not getting incinerators for schools from the Government to dispose of sanitary napkins. Few NGOs or Companies have given them to some schools via CSR funds.

Mysore City Corporation AEE (Environment) K S Mruthyunjaya said that even as Mysuru city generates 600 tonnes of waste per day, about one tonne is sanitary pads. Approximately only 400 to 500 kg is not segregated at households and they segregate them at Solid Waste management plants.

They dispose of them via deep burials as there is no permission yet to use incinerators at SWM Plants. They are trying to enter into MoU with a biomedical waste plant to dispose of them.

MCC Chief Health officer Dr N P Venkatesh said that, among 442 waste collection vehicles of MCC, 329 autos have a separate box where these Napkins should be collected. People must wrap them in a paper and mark it with X mark and hand it over to waste collectors.

The used pad is often mixed with wet/biodegradable waste. They should be segregated as per the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, which classify sanitary pads as dry, non-biodegradable waste.

Mruthyunjaya said that, sometimes since people flush pads in toilets MCC gets at least 50 complaints per day related to blockage of sewage pipelines.

Mysuru district Reproductive and Child Health Officer (RCHO), Dr Mohammed Shiraz Ahmed informed that, hospitals segregate sanitary napkins/diapers in yellow bins, and send them to two biomedical waste plants in the city. As part of health and wellness education, they educate students on scientific disposal of these pads.

Noted Physician, Dr Sanjeev Rao Girimaji, said, "Used sanitary pads are contaminated with menstrual blood, vagina secretions; and also may be contaminated with urine and fecal matter. Most civic workers handling them in the short term, may be exposed to various infections, short-term skin irritation or skin diseases. Infection and obnoxious smell can cause respiratory illness. Handling them over longer periods of duration can lead to chronic skin infections/allergies."

"Exposure to chemicals contained in them like dioxins, bleaching agents, plastic can increase the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. They might face stigma associated with handling such waste, which may affect them psychologically. So it is imperative that the public dispose of the sanitary pads with proper precautions. Civic workers handling them must not use bare hands, and take adequate measures and use gloves, masks, and long boots to reduce the risk of these complications."

Noted Forensic Expert, Dr Dinesh Rao, said, "due to plastic content and non biodegradability, these sanitary napkins accumulated in landfills/deep burials, can take up to 500-800 years to decompose. They pose serious health risks, besides long-term environmental hazards and serious ecological threats."

"Studies have indicated that micro and nano plastics are detected almost everywhere, from deep-sea sediments to human organs. One of the promising solutions and environmentally friendly alternatives could be development of biodegradable sanitary pads, like pads made from natural fibers such as banana fiber, bamboo, or cotton."