N CL sets up sanitary pad disposal mechanism on campus

In a bid to provide an improved work environment to its women researchers, the Pune-based CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), a premier research and development institute in the field of chemical sciences, has deployed a sanitary pad disposal mechanism on its campus.

Through this disposal system, the treated sanitary pads are recycled to create different things, including flower pots, pencils and diaries with the help of their cellulosic content, while their plastic content is separated and mixed with concrete to make paving stones, the laboratory said. The sanitary pad disposal mechanism and vending machines have been installed with the help of Padcare, a start-up incubated at NCL's Venture Centre.

The process started after a woman PhD student from the institute, during an interaction with Union minister Jitendra Singh last year, had flagged the lack of proper sanitary pad disposal mechanism in many institutes of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to which the NCL Director had said that an "inventive" solution was in the offing and would be deployed at the hostels and labs. Replying to a query by PTI, the CSIR-NCL said it has deployed and implemented a sanitary pad disposal mechanism developed by a start-up incubated at the NCL Venture Centre, which is a smokeless and recyclable solution. It said that some essential criteria for the choice of this method included not only usual parameters like capital investment and ease of deployment, but also convenient routine operation.

"Its use is quite intuitive, and deployment involves just the physical placement of the bin in each stall. The pickup is also simple and done by personnel of the company. The treated waste sanitary pads are separated for their cellulosic and plastic content. The cellulosic content is recycled into flower pots, pencils, and diaries.

The plastic content is separated and mixed with concrete to make paving stones. Many disposal bins are installed in the washroom stalls designated for women in the institute and the hostel premises," the institute said.