Girls after puberty experience periods from time to
time, which does cause them great inconvenience, a fact that is agreed by all
women on Earth. But trying to dispose those used sanitary pads can be all the
more troublesome. Using tampons also is not much convenient, since equal amount
of effort will be necessary to dispose these toxic wastes.
Hence, this issue
definitely is a grave concern for not only women across the globe, but also for
everyone, as this form of toxic Sanitary Napkin
Disposal will only mean increase contaminants in the
environment, creating hazards for years to come. Although surveys conducted in
developing countries like India have showed that 12% of women only make use of
sanitary pads, still this small percentage generates tonnes of waste that needs
to be dealt with.
Issues with conventional disposable method
Women in general have developed the habit to wrap the
soiled sanitary paid within a polythene or newspaper and throw it away at a
nearby landfill or the garbage bin that they first come across on the way, so
that it remains hidden.
The question that many tend to ask is what exactly
happens to the soiled napkins once they get picked up by the concerned civic
authorities. These wastes are actually carried to the city outskirts, where
they manually are segregated by the rag or waste pickers and then buried in the
landfill eventually. The reason is because, still now, people are not aware of
the correct and safe way to dispose the used pads or the problems that arise
with it.
According to the environmental and health experts, the
ramifications of continued conventional practice are undoubtedly horrible. The pads
are made from plastic materials and non-biodegradable. This effectively means,
it will be in within the landfill for several hundred years before starting to
decompose.
An informal way practiced used to destroy sanitary
napkins is to burn it in the open. However, the fumes that emerge from this
burning process are known to contain harmful toxic gases such as furans and
dioxins. Air has already been polluted due to these contaminants and other
aspects. Hence, if adequate action is not taken for its safe disposal, then the
problem in the near future will only get manifolds, causing severe
environmental disaster. There is a genuine need to adopt sustainable and
eco-friendly methods to dispose the used sanitary pads.
The waste pickers are considered to be the first ones
to segregate the non-biodegradable and biodegradable wastes. Unfortunately,
they are not provided with gloves or face masks to carry out their tasks. This
effectively means that they come into contact with different kinds of
microorganisms which thrive within the soiled pads. Hence, they get exposed to
unwanted diseases like staphylococcus, salmonella, E. Coli, and pathogens
causing tetanus and hepatitis.
How to change this dreadful situation?
There has been introduced a safe way to dispose the
used and toxic sanitary waste by incinerating them in a sanitary napkin
burner. It will be wise to do some
research about them and find out the details as to how they are safe and secure.
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