RECKON CARE

In their own words

About Us Until a few years ago, it was nearly impossible to even talk about menstrual health and hygiene in rural areas of India. A vital health-related issue concerning all women remained ignored due to social and cultural inhibitions. Apart from awareness, accessibility and affordability of sanitary pads remained a major challenge in Rural and Urban areas of India. A recent report shows that about 88% of menstruating women in India do not have access to sanitary products during their periods, and use alternatives like pieces of rag, ash, sand and husk. As a result, almost 1 in every 4 adolescent girls in the country quit schools when she hits puberty. Poor menstrual hygiene is also responsible for almost 70% of reproductive diseases in India. 23% of girls drop out at schools when they start menstruating in India. Looking at this grim reality. Nidhi Shrimali and Vidushi Yadav started Project “Reckon Care” On the other hand, is another grim scenario. Each woman who uses a sanitary pad during her period is, inadvertently, polluting the environment. 90% of the sanitary pads we use are made of non-biodegradable plastic. The average sanitary pads are made of three layers – the thin top layer, known as the dri-weave top sheet, is made of polypropylene component, a plastic polymer. The padding in the middle is generally wood pulp mixed with super absorbent polymers and the leak-proof layer is made with an impermeable polyethylene component. Studies have shown that each sanitary pad could take 500-800 years to decompose, and a single woman can generate up to 125 kg of non-biodegradable waste through her menstruating years. This means the use of sanitary napkins, tampons or even the newly introduced menstrual cups. Further, studies suggest that one sanitary napkin can take at least 500 to 800 years to decompose due to the plastic content in it. Plastic is highly non-biodegradable and can hence lead to health and environmental hazards. Being asked about maintaining eco-friendly environment and menstrual hygiene. The biggest issue continues to be of menstrual waste management. With millions of napkins being disposed off every day, the question of a biodegradable pad certainly needs to be addressed. So how does one reconcile such contradictory problems? While it is imperative to provide more women with sanitary solutions, one also needs to keep the environment in mind. Biodegradable material for sanitary napkins is extremely costly in the market today. To make cheap pads with them is almost impossible. How we have tried to balance it out is by using only 10-15 percent Biodegradable plastic in the sanitary napkin,” As we mentioned above reproductive disease increases day by day due to poor menstrual hygiene in women is also a big issue. So, we mainly focus on herbal pads of different varieties. They have no side effects, odourless, easily biodegradable, immunity booster etc. We mainly concern about women health hygiene. Our new Project Reckon Care , the brainchild of Nidhi Shrimali and Vidushi, and one of the few initiatives today that aims at spreading awareness about menstruation in rural schools along with providing rural women and girls with environment-friendly sanitary pads. Udaipur-based Nidhi Shrimali and Vidushi were both independent social responsible workers who met through a common friend. They soon realized that they were both passionate about educating rural women and un aware Women about hygiene and sanitation and decided to start working together and launched Project “Sanitary Pad with name of Laado.” Our brand name “Laado” also gives biodegradable disposal bags with the pad, a step towards saving the environment. This is because most women still feel ashamed to throw the pad in the garbage packed in a newspaper and would rather flush it down, harming the environment even more. However, Project went a step beyond other similar projects. Here the thrust was not just on providing sanitary pads to rural women, but to ensure that the pads were environment-friendly. Under the project has been travelling to villages across India with their menstruation and sanitation workshops. So far they have the states of Rajasthan Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and hope to cover the entire country. Project Sanitary Pad is in its initial phase, where both the founders are going to one village at a time and distributing sanitary napkins and educating the masses. They get their feedback by contacting schools and taking stock of attendance We wish to educate women, empower by employing them and enhance India’s sanitation sector with premium menstruation products

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