A Step towards “Sustainable Menstrual Products”
How TGB charity is helping thousands of underprivileged girls adapt to environment friendly menstrual products
The year 2020 is ending. It has been a terrific year, where the entire human race went through testing times. It made us realize that nothing can be taken for granted. It taught us that even a minor imbalance can create great havoc in our lives as well as in the economies built over years. It showed us how the world around us healed when we paused for a few days. It gave us time to sit and ponder on how much of a harm we have done to the very earth we live in. It also gave us hope that there is still time if we could change the way we consume things.
On one hand while it is extremely exhilarating to see NGOs working tirelessly in villages and small towns to raise the awareness of menstrual hygiene among women, it makes one shudder to think of the huge sanitary waste the world might produce, considering most of them promote the usage of sanitary pads or tampons. To give the readers an idea, even if we consider a woman uses 15-20 sanitary pads/tampons per month during her menstrual cycle, it amounts to approximately 200 pads per year. Considering the 2019 stats of the number of menstruating women using sanitary pads, that comes up to 121 million * 200 sanitary pads a year in India alone. These numbers are not just mind-boggling, but a wakeup call to all of us working towards menstrual education and hygiene. We just cannot move ahead without taking into consideration the negative impact we are making on the environment we live in.
But the question is, "Can such a huge sanitary waste be avoided?” Thankfully, the answer is a definite "yes". This is exactly what TGB Charity along with the help of SAATH Charitable Trust and Unipads India is trying to achieve. TGB is on a mission to educate 12000 less privileged adolescent girls in Gujarat on right menstrual hygiene practices and donate them Reusable Cloth Sanitary Pads. These pads not just ensure the menstrual hygiene of women, but also is an environment friendly alternative to sanitary pads and tampons.
Some of the other options we can consider are menstrual cups and period panties. By switching from disposable sanitary products to these sustainable ones, we will be creating a significant impact on the surrounding environment. Let us change and tweak a few of our lifestyle choices and help change the course our planet is heading towards. Every single contribution matters.
