.png)
Tengkulak Tengah, Desember 6th 2021 – When a woman reaches puberty, she experiences menstruation for the first time. After that first time every month for the next thirty or forty years she will menstruate. It is a repeated cycle, and if she is using disposable menstrual pads another pad will join the growing pile of garbage that pollutes our environment. It does not sound that bad that one woman only adds 12 dirty used pads a year. But it adds up!
According to Sustanation.id, an online Indonesian store that sources its products locally and only sells products that have a positive social and environmental impact, the waste produced by sanitary napkins has reached 26 TONS PER DAY in Indonesia. Waste that cannot be recycled or processed in landfills and is absorbed in the ground and by the ocean.
Figure 1. The Perfect Fit reusable pads
With the support of Perfect Fit, MUDFISH NO PLASTIC initiated an event on December 6th 2021 to distribute reusable pads to women in Banjar Tengkulak Tengah to use as an alternative to disposable menstrual pads. This event included educating the women about their menstrual cycle, reproductive system and the importance of switching from disposable menstrual pads to a much healthier alternative. As part of the event, Perfect Fit distributed reusable pads to the 49 women from Banjar Tengkulak Tengah and gave them information about how to use and wash those pads for reuse.
Reusable pads are the perfect choice for an eco-friendly lifestyle. And there are many benefits, including the economic benefit - reusable pads can last a long as five years, and the health benefit - reusable pads do not contain any dangerous chemicals.
Figure 2. The women who attend the event
“In 2022, reusable pads will be added permanently to the MUDFISH NO PLASTIC toolkit. So, in addition to water filters, and reusable water bottles and tote bags we will also distribute reusable pads to the women who join our workshop," said Mora Siregar, one of the co- founders of MNP. With reusable pads, MUDFISH NO PLASTIC has a new practical solution to get us closer to a sustainably clean environment in Indonesia.