How Sanitree is marshalling an eco-friendly revolution in menstrual hygiene

JAIPUR: World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year; the theme of this year is – “Ecosystem Restoration” – aimed at preventing, stopping and/or reversing the damage done by humans to the nature and the planet. One of the most effective ways to restoring our ecosystem is eliminating (or at least reducing) the usage of non-biodegradable and non-recyclable products as a part of our daily lives and lifestyle.  

When it comes to menstrual hygiene products, the constantly growing large-scale use of single-use, disposable sanitary pads pose serious challenges to the environment, to an extent that is frankly quite hard to imagine! In India alone, with over 120 million women and adolescent girls using disposable sanitary pads, more than 12 billion sanitary pads are being thrown away each year; the majority of these are pads made with plastic or other environmentally-averse materials, and are usually dumped into landfills, instead of being collected and disposed off through municipal waste management systems.

Each one of these pads could take somewhere between 500-800 years to decompose, and over time the massive waste generated from such pads and similar disposable MHM (Menstrual Hygiene Management) products lead to substantial environmental, social and health hazards.  

In a bid to tackle the environmental and sustainability issues arising from menstrual hygiene products, Sanitree – an innovative for-profit social enterprise having operational footprints in India and Scotland — manufactures and sells its unique range of eco-friendly and reusable sanitary pads, thus cutting out the necessity for repeated single-use plastic waste and supporting the circular economy. Sanitree’s cloth pads are entirely made with fresh, safe and environment-friendly materials — the top layer of the pad is made out of (certified) organic cotton, and the five layers inside it are made of double-side brushed cotton, which are thin and highly absorbent in nature.

And then the last layer of the pad is also biodegradable, as it is made out of polyethylene laminate. The materials used in the production of Sanitree’s pads make them completely leak-proof and enables around 150 to 200 washes, which means around 2 years of usage for the end-user. Furthermore, Sanitree packages its products in an entirely plastic-free manner; instead, their pads come in a handy pouch made from recycled industrial off-cuts. 

The positive environmental impact that Sanitree has created so far can be illustrated better by the facts below.On an average, a woman (who has attained menstruating age) uses at least 12 sanitary pads per month

This means that each woman uses around (12×12=) 144 pads in a year and therefore around (144×2=) 288 pads over a period of 2 years

Based on these calculations, if 8000 women use disposable and single-use non-biodegradable pads over a 2-year-long period, it would mean (288×8000=) 2,30,4000 such pads would end up being used and then thrown in landfills, thereby generating waste and harming the environment. Now imagine these numbers with the Indian and global population in mind!

Sanitree’s reusable pads last upto 2 years, and till date, Sanitree has 8000+ users in India and the world; it means that the women using Sanitree’s pads are collectively mitigating the carbon footprint and negative environmental impact caused by approximately 2,30,4000 disposable pads

Now that’s quite a revolutionary impact indeed – one that Sanitree has named as the ‘eco-friendly’ cloth pad revolution!

Sanitree is a student-led enterprise that originated in 2017 from the University of Edinburg’s Enactus Society; the enterprise works with the long-term vision to create an enabling ecosystem wherein menstruation becomes an experience that is empowering for people and kind to the planet at the same time. 

“All profits made from the sales of our pads are eventually reinvested into our social impact model, as well as our cross-subsidization to make Sanitree’s pads as affordable as possible for end-consumers,” says Ishu Shiva, Managing Director, Sanitree, who has been spearheading the India operations of Sanitree since January 2019. 

Ishu Shiva wears many hats — apart from being a visionary social entrepreneur who is leading Sanitree’s production and community outreach activities from Jaipur, India, she is a qualified Yoga teacher and also the Co-Founder of Jeevan Arth Foundation, a Rajasthan-based NGO. In 2018, Jeevan Arth Foundation – an organization which was already working in improving menstrual hygiene awareness in and around Jaipur – collaborated with Sanitree to establish a community co-operative of women in Jagatpura (an urban slum area in Jaipur).  As a part of this co-operative project, 22 local women who come from various disadvantaged backgrounds have been employed so far to produce Sanitree’s reusable cloth pads. 

Ishu, who faced her fair share of challenges while and after setting up the Jaipur project, has over the years been able to successfully overcome all difficulties with her grit, determination and passion (to do something meaningful and empowering for the women and communities), and because of her extraordinary role in almost single-handedly managing and running the Jaipur-centric India operations of Sanitree, she was promoted to the position of Director of the social enterprise in February 2020. 

Notably, Ishu has been a part of Project Her&Now’s Entrepreneurship Support Programme in Rajasthan in 2020. ‘Her&Now–Empowering Women Entrepreneurs’ is a pan-India project implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in partnership with the Government of India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). In Rajasthan, the project is running in partnership with Startup Oasis. Sanitree received mentorship, business modeling and market access support as part of this programme, which has contributed significantly in Sanitree’s growth.

In the near future, Sanitree hopes to continue to inspire the breakdown of the existing menstruation taboos through spreading education and raising awareness, and aims to make its eco-friendly reusable sanitary pads more affordable and accessible to all.  As far as the Jaipur project of Sanitree is concerned, Ishu aims to take the number of women she works with to upto 50 or more over the next one year.

On the other hand, most of Sanitree’s fundraising, collaboration and advocacy-related initiatives are usually initiated from Edinburgh, Scotland, where 14 members of the student-led Sanitree team (who study at the University of Edinburgh) are volunteering regularly to further Sanitree’s social and environmental impact work. In 2020, the Sanitree team in Scotland had campaigned for over six months while executing their ‘Free for All. Period.’ campaign, which culminated with a rally outside the Scottish Parliament; hereafter, The Period Products (Free Provision) Bill was being passed in the country’s Parliament – which ensured ‘period dignity’ and ‘free-of-cost period products’ for all women in Scotland.  Sanitree remains relentlessly committed to the creation of generation restoration through their work.