Sanitary pads take 250-800 years to decompose, which is pushing young Indians to opt for greener alternatives
Author: Karuna Sharma
Every year, around 12.3 billion used sanitary pads are dumped in landfills in India, said a report by the environmental group Toxics Link. Each of these non-organic sanitary pads is equivalent to four plastic bags, and it takes 250-800 years to decompose. And, some may never decompose at all. To reduce their carbon footprint on Earth, young millennials and GenZs are switching to greener options like menstrual cups, reusable pads, period discs, tampons, period panties, etc. Not only are these alternatives greener but some of them are also cheaper. “There are more than 35 crore menstruating women in India. If all of them use 20 pads in a month, just imagine the mammoth amount of plastic waste we can generate. Fast forward to 50 years, all countries will be drowned in pads if they remain in our system for 500-800 years,” says Devidutta Dash, founder of new-age menstrual care startup Lemme Be.