“Climate change is the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced”, Naturalist David Ateenborough. In this century of advancement, where World has achieved many milestones by progressing in the journey of Science and Technology, it has to face many risks among which climate change can be said as the biggest one.
The Health Data Explorer at COP27 launched by Climate Vulnerable Forum and Lancet Countdown shows that unabated climate change will cause 3.4 million deaths per year by the end of this century if the global temperature rise to 1.5C° would not limited.
Although there are many factors to global temperature rise but one crucial cause has been neglected utterly_the escalation in the usage of Sanitary pads. These thick and highly absorbent, feminine care products, are being prodigiously used worldwide for the past few years even in developing countries like Pakistan due to their reliability, impactful marketing, and promotion from UNICEF along with numerous other organizations. In India alone, roughly 121 million women and girls use an average of eight disposable and non-compostable pads per month.
These synthetic pads which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, hormone dysfunction, endometriosis, and even cancer, are not detrimental to health only yet it affects our environment gigantically. Most disposable pads are made up of 90 percent Plastic, including packaging, the leakproof layer on the pad, the synthetics that soak up fluid, and the plastic back strip.
Even the upper layer which may feel like fabric, is actually a woven plastic sheet. This plastic material releases a Carbon footprint during manufacturing and even incineration. The emitted greenhouse gases amid these processes, make a layer in the Earth’s atmosphere trapping the sun’s heat and precluding it from going back into space and causing global warming which further results in cataclysmic floods, prolonged droughts, deadliest wildfires, and other calamities. New scientific studies have shown that plastic is responsible for almost 4 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions more than the aviation industry produces.
Equally important, the climate is not getting affected only by the production and incineration of pads but by throwing it as a waste. In many developing countries, this wasted material is seen in the form of heaps alongside the roads and on the coasts. It is estimated that every month, an average of 500 million sanitary products end up in landfill which takes up to 500 to 800 years to decompose. During the decomposition process, these products release microplastics that pollute the marine environment as well.
If flushing menstrual products directly into the toilet is concerned, it can exacerbate the problem, as they end up in drainage systems that ultimately discharge into the sea. As far as their recycling is concerned, so being sanitary products they cannot be recycled because of health concerns, and the thin plastic coating that encompasses the sanitary pad, makes the whole item or product unrecyclable.
Additionally, when these synthetic pads or other similar products are landfilled and exposed to ambient solar radiation, it produces methane in a colossal amount which is 28 times more effective than Carbon dioxide gas at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 100_year period, per the latest assessment report by International Panel on Climate Change.
Cognizant of the deleterious effects of pads on climate, it can be deduced that biodegradable and non-plastic napkins or towels should be used. The cotton napkins or clothes are not only reclaimable (can be reused after washing) but economical as well. The prominent qualities that they have are high absorbing capacity and the capability to be decomposed within a few weeks. Besides this, cotton tampons can be used alternatively as they are biodegradable because organic cotton naturally breaks down both aerobically and anaerobically.
Concluding, to address the climate and plastic crises which are interlinked to each other, there is a critical need of making strategic policies and prompt attention towards this matter at both governmental and individual levels. The use of synthetic pads must be reduced by adopting alternative ways to forestall weather catastrophes. Conclusively, the world is ours and we are its saviors!
