Sustainability Project

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Sustainability

Group Project

Carbon Footprint and Waste Generated from Sanitary


Napkins at IMT Hostels
Submitted by Group 12, Batch (2021-2023)

Name Enrolment number

Riya Sugla 21A3HP616


Parul Prasad 21A3HP617
Kavita Shah 21A3HP624
Naveen Satish 21A3HP622
Lisa 21A3HP630
Ritwij Pradeep Kelshikar 21A3HP634

Submitted to-

Prof. Dr. Steven Raj Padakandla

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Why the Topic has Been Selected
This topic was selected to study the consumption patterns, and the carbon footprint caused by
using menstrual management products (sanitary pads & tampons). As all the residents of H4
are educated on the norms and use of sanitary napkins, proactive measures to manage the
subsequent waste produced still need to be improved. There is an urgent need to formulate an
ideal disposal pattern than simply wrapping the used sanitary pads and throwing them in the
dustbin. A year’s worth of a typical feminine hygiene product leaves a carbon footprint of 5.3
kg CO2 equivalents. This small research aims to investigate how girls on the college campus
manage their menstrual waste and the number of sanitary napkins used.

Techniques Used
There are 145 girls in the batch of 21-23 & 22-24 combined, we floated google forms in H4
(Girl’s hostel) groups. The survey form was designed to obtain inputs such as feminine
hygiene habits and disposal habits of the respondents. We received 120 responses, and we
extrapolated the feminine hygiene products consumption for all 145 residents of the H4
residents. Finally, we calculated the amount of waste generated and its equivalent carbon
footprint.
One limitation of this methodology is that since this is a sensitive topic, respondents tend to
give socially acceptable answers. The questionnaire was not designed using projective
techniques to account for this limitation. We went ahead with direct questions to get clear
answers, and no ambiguity, and since the target demographic of the study is women pursuing
management, who are progressive and would give responses as is. Hence, we did not feel the
need to use projective techniques.
Analysis & Major Findings

Table 1Types of products used by the respondents Figure 1 Bar chart representation

Inference- Most of the population (87%) uses Sanitary Pads, the major contributor to the
waste gamut. Around 3% of the population uses Tampons which are also waste generators.
Menstrual cups have the most negligible negative impact on the environment due to their
reusability and long life.

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Table 2 Consumption of pads per cycle

Inference - The table shows the total number of Pads used based on the number of pads
used per cycle. After extrapolating the responses, the number of pads consumed per cycle is
1593. There are 13 cycles in a year; hence the total pads per year would be 1593*13 =
20709

364 pads giving 4kg carbon emission - means 1 pad = 10.98gm carbon
Total Carbon emission: 22.7385 kg carbon per year

Table 3Costing and brand preference

Inference: Amount of money spent in sanitary pads per year- Rs. 251558.5

Category-wise division of Variants

Consumption of Variants

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87% of the girls use non-Compostable pads which take around 800-900 years to
decompose and are only for one-time use. These pads exert a lot of carbon footprint and
waste inside the IMT premises.

Table 4 Chemical Composition of various sanitary products and their life span

Learnings
To be fair, the amount of hazardous waste generated by sanitary napkins is not just an IMT
problem, it’s a worldwide issue. To control this waste, and manage it responsibly we learned
the following measures could be taken:

1. Inventory of waste generated


To estimate and assess the amount of sanitary waste generation and subsequently
determine the treatment facility design capacity, the Central Pollution Control Board
of India should develop a separate portal where every manufacturer and brand owner
of the sanitary product is required to share their production and sales data for all
sanitary products. Once we know the number of products made, we can help in
increasing the capacity of the incinerators or other waste management tools we
require in order to handle the waste responsibly.

2. Education and Communication regarding the subject


In India, menstruation is still a taboo subject. This is the reason why many people
don’t know a lot about how to treat the waste generated by it. The science underlying
menstrual products and their disposal is frequently unknown, not just to the women
who use them but also to the administration. Information initiatives centered on more
ecologically friendly sanitary goods should be one of India's long-term priorities.

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3. Promotion of Eco-friendly products
There is a clear need to invest in promoting eco-friendly alternatives with positive
effects on human health, the economy, and the environment when one considers the
present ecosystem of sanitary goods on the market and the resources required for their
production.

References

1. Author links open overlay panelL.A.G.BlairaY.Bajón -


FernándezbR.VillaaPersonEnvelope et al. (2022) An exploratory study of the impact and
potential of menstrual hygiene management waste in the UK, Cleaner Engineering and
Technology. Elsevier. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790822000404
2. Adoption, use, and environmental impact of feminine hygiene products ... (no date).
Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327842879_Adoption_Use_and_Environmental
_Impact_of_Feminine_Hygiene_Products_among_College_Going_Girls_of_Udaipur
3. Knowledge on sanitary practices and waste management among Sherubtse ... (no date).
Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349502274_Knowledge_on_Sanitary_Practices
_and_Waste_Management_Among_Sherubtse_College_Girls
4. Sanitary waste management in India: Challenges and agenda (no date) Centre for
Science and Environment. Available at: https://www.cseindia.org/sanitary-waste-
management-in-india-challenges-and-agenda-11282 (Accessed: December 26, 2022).

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