New Delhi [India], June 6: World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, is being marked by PadCare, India’s first sanitary-pad recycling organisation, with an awareness campaign in Pune to focus attention on period plastic pollution.
Billions of sanitary pads are thrown out in India each year, containing plastic and other non-organic components, which has caused an unknowing but serious environmental issue. These pads take up to 800 years to decompose, which results in more landfills, more pollution of oceans and more toxic emissions from incineration.
Dealing directly with this matter, PadCare has organised an impressive public campaign. A volunteer dressed up in sanitary waste that portrays the ill effects of period plastic pollution on Mother Earth is meeting people on busy streets in Pune. By having bold signs and interactive placards, PadCare wants people to reflect on menstrual trash and realise it contributes to plastic waste.
“Citizens raise voices for plastic bags and bottles, but ignore the plastic in sanitary pads. The problem has built up slowly under people’s noses. Instead of just telling people about it, we are acting to make a major change.” Says Ajinkya Dhariya, Founder and CEO of PadCare Labs.
This year’s Environment Day is special as PadCare becomes the first ever company to call attention to the plastic revolution in private hygiene. In their magnanimous pioneering endeavour, the team is introducing awareness on the ground for the first time about menstrual waste, something that has been rarely talked about in environmental debates.
With a man covered in Sanitary Waste on the streets in Pune, PadCare is making people think and teaching them that every day, 12 billion pads end up in landfills in India, which take hundreds of years to decompose. The striking image, linked to real changes enabled by PadCare, has turned Environment Day into a major step forward for sustainability and menstrual waste solutions.
Experiencing the way ragpickers at a landfill handled dirty sanitary pads barehanded motivated Ajinkya to get involved. Because of his vision, PadCare Labs was established in 2018, and an inventive recycling technology was developed for sanitary napkins.
The system starts with special bins that stop odour and bacterial growth. PadCare’s unique 5D technology sorts out pulp and plastic, and all is upcycled in the PadCare bins as well. They get made into copier paper, plant pots, paver blocks and the PadCare bins themselves.
With the problem being an 800+ years of Carbon Impact because of the plastic waste, PadCare has successfully come up with a solution with its CPCB-approved and patented 5D technology, and recycled more than 4.9 million sanitary pads, which has helped prevent the production of 249 tonnes of carbon emissions. In 25 different cities, PadCare is guiding over 1,500 clients’ sites, including Fortune 500 companies, in changing India’s approach to disposing of menstrual hygiene products by recycling them in a hygienic way. PadCare also dignifies waste pickers by giving them jobs.
Their plan for Environment Day additionally hopes to persuade governments, businesses, housing areas and organisations to follow more environmentally-friendly waste policies. Many countries in Africa, Europe and the Americas are interested in using PadCare’s technology.
“We take things one at a time. Sanitary waste can be managed safely for the planet if people are aware of the issues and the necessary facilities are available. We want to highlight all the net positives that can be achieved for the environment and through our recycling,” adds Dhariya.
Because plastic pollution is harming ecosystems everywhere, PadCare is shining a light on an important, unspoken yet widespread problem, bringing real solutions to our communities, housing societies, and workplaces, and doing so one pad at a time.
PadCare provides services to corporates, Housing societies and communities. To avail the service, please reach out on the given contact details:
Visit us: https://www.padcarelabs.com
Email: info@padcarelabs.com
Call us: +919022822458
