Nothing but just a Red Dot

 DISCLAIMER

This blog is all related to women health and hygiene and it specifically highlights the points related to the environmental issues which are caused by sanitary waste. So, it is a kind request to the readers to read the blog only if they are interested in saving the nature or who feel this problem to be serious enough. The topic deals with the reality and hence if anybody’s feelings are hurt, I sincerely apologize to them and thank you all for reading the write-up. If you like the write up, please do your bit to share it to people who would be interested.

A little about ‘waste’ disposal

It was 3^rd August when we had a program arranged by NSS (National Service Scheme) in our college. We were all seated in our college Audio Visual Room when we were alerted about the arrival of our chief guest Ms. Karishma  Chavan, SWaCH's Outreach Assistant.

 She along with a few members of the foudation and the member of Board of Director of SWaCH, Mrs. Shobha Bansode, entered the room and was welcomed with great enthusiasm. Then she started explaining certain things which surely opened our eyes and which created awareness. Hence, I thought of sharing a few of her thoughts.

(From extreme right) Outreach asisstant, Ms. Karishma Chavan, a member of SWaCH,  Board of  Director of SWaCH, Mrs. Shobha Bansode, NSS P.O., Dr. Smita Zambre ma'am, Mrs. Lalieetaa Bhagat ma'am

 Friends, let’s begin with some very simple questions, who is responsible for the garbage? Do you segregate your waste? In how many categories can the garbage be segregated?

People know that the garbage can be segregated into two categories- wet waste and dry waste, that’s it. But is that so? No, garbage is segregated into four main categories i.e. wet waste, dry waste, E-waste and sanitary waste. Now what all is included into these categories and can we dispose it? Let’s see.

Wet garbage is the garbage which includes all the kitchen waste, dry leaves, garden waste, hair, nails, etc. and it can be used in composting and we can create fertilizer out of it. The dry waste is the one which contains all the dry things like paper, plastic bags, plastic bottles, thermocol, metals, cardboard, etc. This can also be reused in some or the other way. Then we have electronic waste which include all the gadgets and equipments and their parts like remote, computers, television, mobile phones, etc. which we give to Bhangarvalas who ultimately give them to the people who take the parts off, renew them and again sell them into the market. So all this garbage can be reused and recycled but what about the sanitary waste which includes sanitary napkins and diapers? We neither can recycle them nor can we dispose it properly. Friends, do you know that one sanitary napkin requires more than hundred years to get decomposed?

These sanitary napkins and diapers are made up of cotton, plastic granules, gel, synthetic material and various harmful chemicals which help in getting the desired odor. These may sometimes even cause irritation to your skin. Even it is said that a girl or a woman should not use a sanitary napkin for more than 4-5 hours as various bacteria are generated on the napkin like E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, HIV and pathogens which cause hepatitis and tetanus and these bacteria grow more in number when it is disposed. Same is the case with the used up diapers

Friends, we forget about is this diaper/ napkin when it is put into the dustbin but these bacteria spread very fast into the air and may cause many health related problems which is dangerous not only for women or children but also for the whole family. Some girls/women even do not dispose it in an appropriate way.

Sanitary waste

Finding a solution

So, isn’t it not our responsibility to find out a solution for it? Do you know, during the age from 14-45 years (period of having menses and menopause), a woman uses more than 15,000 sanitary napkins? And there are so many girls and women which belong to this range all over the world, so just think, how much sanitary waste is created every month! Well, as we all know, this is a problem which we cannot actually get rid of because it is natural but we can surely think of a proper way of disposal.

Do you know that people are not ready for marrying the youngsters in Uruli Kanchan ( a place having a huge garbage depot on outskirts of Pune city) as general perception is that these people may have some kind of contagious diseases? People burn the garbage created and think that they have got rid of the garbage, but what about the toxic gases that are coming out of it?

So then what people ask is that then what is the solution for this problem? Well, it’s really simple but before that I would like to tell you about SWaCH foundation.

Segregate your waste!

In 2005 a pilot program implemented by Kagas Kach  Patra Kashtakari Panchayat in collaboration with the Department of Adult Education, SNDT Women's University enabled 1500 waste pickers to become service providers for the door to door collection of waste from households in Pune city. This considerably improved their conditions of work and upgraded their livelihoods effectively bridging the gap between households and the municipal waste collection service. The pilot was operational since 2006 and SWaCH was formed in 2007.

In 2008 the PMC signed a five-year Agreement with SWaCH and renewed it in 2016 to decentralize door-to- door collection services for households, shops, offices and small commercial establishments. The members of the cooperative work in pairs and are in charge of door-to- door waste collection for 200-250 households. Waste pickers receive segregated waste (separated wet or organic waste and dry waste such as plastics, glass, paper, etc.} from house-holds /commercial establishments. They further segregate the recyclables to be sold in the re-cycling market; non-recyclable waste is dropped off at feeder points.

Currently, SWaCH saves PMC's more than 70 crore rupees every year just by using traditional mechanism of waste collection and segregation i.e pushcarts which are not causing any kind of pollution.Out of all the pushcarts which are used for door to door collection of the waste, about 1,500of them are painted with the message of proper segregation and handling of sanitary waste i.e ' Wrap it in paper and mark it with Red Dot' 

SWaCH saved about 4  lakhs of trees in 2017 just by putting papers which have been collected during door to door collection of waste.

For creating the awareness of this campaign, they also conduct Red Dot Campaign awareness in schools, colleges, even on community level, through rallies, sessions for non- government organisation, small groups of women, incorporate comapnies, etc.

SWaCH has been authorized by the PMC to collect and channel e-waste (Authorization letter) according to the rules laid down by the government for dealing with hazardous waste (e-waste flier). Seemingly harmless batteries, mobile phones, chargers, etc. actually pose a grave danger to the environment and people when improperly disposed.

Initially, the members of this group did face some major problems. They had no identity of their own when they started with their work. They just used to have a jute bag with them and they simply used to sit and segregate the garbage but people from the societies nearby thought something else. They thought them to be thieves and they complained about it to the police. Then after a lot of trouble, finally the ladies of this foundation decided to complain about it to PMC and then finally, they got their identity cards and the coat of their own.

Now, one more problem which they are facing is one which on hearing made us all feel ashamed of. That is nothing but the disposal of the sanitary waste. What we do is that we throw the sanitary napkins in dry garbage but during segregation process, the ladies are unaware of the sanitary napkin or diaper which is  wrapped into the paper. Of course, how would she know about it? Do you know, to prepare one sheet of paper, it required many trees to be chopped down. So, to save those trees, what these ladies do is that they just unwrap the paper so that it can be utilized somewhere or the other place but after unwrapping it, what do they find? Sanitary napkins, diapers!

Girls, just think, if anyone asks you to open up and show your own used up sanitary napkin, will you do that? What will you feel? ‘Are you crazy? Why shall I show that to you?’ these will be the words which will come up from you but then what about those ladies who do that every day? Aren’t they prone to various kinds of diseases? Aren’t they anybody’s mother, sister, wife, daughter? Then what people say,’ yes it’s their job’ but just imagine, if you dress up nicely and go to your office and you are about to sit on your chair for work and you realize that there’s some garbage spread on your chair and all over your desk. What will you feel? Insulting, right?

This again became a nuisance for those ladies. They then complained first about it to the companies who produce all the sanitary products but that didn’t help. Then they even requested the shopkeepers who sell these products to sell a small pouch with the pack so that it will be easier for them to recognize it and won’t open it but what the shopkeepers said is that they will be at loss then and if sold individually, ladies won’t buy them. Subsequently, the ladies of SWaCH then gathered all the used up sanitary waste and kept it in the doors of the companies and asked them what to do of this. This act made them realized the seriousness of the problem but till now, no proper solution has been thought of.

Let's Red Dot

Wrap it, mark it

Hence, to stop those ladies to open up the wrapped sanitary waste, what we can do is just wrap the sanitary waste in a news paper, seal it up with a tape and just put up a big red dot (which is visible enough) so that the women won’t open it and directly put it into the allotted bin for disposing it. For making the dot, you can use a red sketch pen, a red pen, red pencil and if not this then you can simply use kumkum or put up a big bindi on it. Simple, isn’t it?

Taking an inspiration from her words, all the FYBSc students of our college were taken to a slum area near our college, the next day, to tell the importance of it to all the common women living there. There were certain problems that the people living there were facing like improper drainage system, no toilets in their home, etc. Fortunately, after the analysis, what we came to know is that most of the women use cloth for those five days which was a good thing for their health. We interacted with those ladies and shared the problems that the garbage segregators are facing and yes, we got a positive reply from them. I do hope our efforts of educating the women would pay dividends in the long run. My wee bit to bring about a social change, which is the need of the hour.

Girls on mission

Myself on the extreme right

Taking the feedback

A woman in Kelewadi

My friend and myself (center)

 So please people, remember, if there’s a problem, there has to be a solution. This problem too, has one; only your desire to change must be greater than your desire to be the same. Please support red dot campaign! This will help avoid endangering innocent lives who do an unthankful, yet essential job of waste segregation.

We segregate wet and dry garbage, we support red dot campaign!