Sanitary napkins are integral to the health and hygiene of menstruating women. Affordability is an issue which is often talked about. But interestingly, rarely people take care of the other side of the sanitary napkins. Are the commercially-available sanitary napkins in India bio-degradable, chemical and plastic free? Well, these are serious questions which have direct impact on health of women living in the urban and rural segments. In this regard, Swati J’s efforts deserve praise as she has pioneered Pink Premium Pads which are a revolutionary, smart and healthy replacement to the widely-used non-biodegradable ones.
The Pink Premium sanitary napkins are designed for women and manufactured by the women. No doubt, this is an ISO certified Handmade, Biodegradable, Chemical & plastic free product which is the need of the hour for women in India. A pack of 10 costs INR 239, which makes it affordable for all. Like all good things, there were hurdles in the beginning. In fact, most people are still unaware of the fact that having plastic and chemicals inside can be dangerous for the body as well as to the environment. It goes without any saying that it will take a little longer time to make people aware about the environmental issues that is happening due to menstrual waste.
Credit goes to Swati for coming forward with such a noble initiative which has become a mass awareness campaign. Swati says, “I’m running a charitable trust called Women Planet Foundation from past three years under which we have one campaign called — Muskaan-Ek Pahel. We adopt adolescent girls for their menstrual hygiene requirements. We provide them with all required counselling, information, education material, sanitary napkins, soap, shampoo and other required things on monthly basis. While working for the same, we faced a challenge to dispose off such menstrual waste in rural as well as urban areas. This challenge compelled me to think and work more toward sustainable menstruation. It pushed me toward the solutions and eventually I started my own initiative — Pink Premium Pads – Biodegradable, Natural & Handmade Sanitary Pads”.
Thankfully, with mass awareness campaigns, Indian women are now well aware of sustainable menstruation healthy. Swati adds, “ Our product is one of those which provide minimum biodegradation time. If we provide required surroundings and environment to the used pad, it will decompose within three months. Along with these, we’re trying to empower women in rural areas with our project #pinkpowerment. We manufacture pads by providing women the required training and skillset. Our aim is to bridge between urban and rural areas via Pink Premium Pads.”
Swati has been running an IT Firm for the past 12 years and is working hard to make the product visible and available using social media marketing and other online promotion tools.
No doubt, Swati and her team deserve much adoration for their ‘Made in India’ project which is a great boon to the menstrual health and hygiene of Indian women.
To know more about Pink Premium pads, click on https://pinkpremiumpads.com
The journey of Women Planet has been incredible as well. To have a look at their journey in sustainable menstruation, visit www.womenpla.net
