1. Project Overview

1. Bi-pad

A biodegradable reusable sanitary pad that can be the best match for menstruating women of rural Nepal. 

1. Background

Women’s health and hygiene have been one of the key concerns over the years across the world as well as Nepal where women are bound to use old mattress cuttings, rags, to catch her menstrual flow. These non-sterile materials are not only inefficient, but they are also unsanitary for menstrual flow. In Nepal, girls and women have little or no understanding of reproductive tract infections caused by poor personal cleanliness during menstruation. Women in rural regions either may not have access to sanitary products or have limited knowledge of the different types and methods of using them, and they are unable to buy them due to their high cost. They should be encouraged, empowered, and given the freedom to have their periods in a safe, confident, and respectful manner.

In a bid to restore dignity to these women, retain them in work and school and enable them to face their periods with confidence, project BI-PAD was born.  A reusable biodegradable sanitary pad that can be the best match for menstruating women of rural Nepal. The goal of this initiative is to break the taboo around menstruation, dispel myths and misconceptions about the topic, raise awareness, and focus on the environment by making it biodegradable and accessible to consumers. While we have been researching and prototyping, we need support in order to reach out to more under-served areas, marginalized populations, and vulnerable groups.

• Literature Review:

For business transformation, sustainability, and competitiveness, innovation and technology transfer are necessary prerequisites. Finding solutions to current problems while allowing new activities to arise is what innovation is all about.

In this context, science, technology and society have significant implications on innovations, their close correlation leading to improvement of social development and achieving sustainable growth of the society. The trail to the growth is vast and Bi-pad takes a small trail yet so huge to acquire the goal of sustainable economic growth of women. The project is not one of its kind but still will have the most impact on its aim. However some of the expensive products unreachable to our intended population are available in the market.

Commercial Sanitary Pads: They are easily available at many stores, chemist shops, or online. They are expensive, compared to cloth pads, non-reusable, and not environment-friendly. The cotton used in their making is not natural and contains pesticides.

Bamboo Fiber Pads: In 2019, two IIT students made reusable sanitary pads made by banana fiber which was not the first discovery but definitely with large media coverage. Instead of wood pulp, bamboo pulp was used as an absorbing material in these sanitary pads. It was claimed to have more absorbing capacity and was safer to use. However these pads are not very cost effective with a cost of 100 INR per pad which is beyond access to the rural areas of Nepal. The similar reusable pads by Pee safe, India have a similar price range.

1. Objectives:

• To establish user-friendly sanitary pads for rural women by ensuring supply at affordable prices

• To provide information and training on menstrual hygiene management to the beneficiaries and other stakeholders during the project duration

• To increase the proportion of young girls engaged in sustainable, environmental friendly, and proper menstruation hygiene management

1. Competitive Features

Our product can be reused so the recurring amount of money for pads will be reduced and also it is soft, easy to use, and biodegradable at the same time which will be very helpful for maintaining proper menstrual health. Whereas, the commercial product that is available in the market is the ordinary sanitary napkin which contains BPA and other chemicals which can cause cancer over time and can interfere with the reproductive system as well. Also the inaccessible sanitary napkin is a very expensive option for rural women due to which they are compelled to use cotton cloths and rags which is also an unhygienic option.

Similarly, our product uses agro waste as a core component which will prevent Mother Nature from pollution and will be a healthier option than rags and old mattress cuttings. There are not many institutions working on reusable, affordable, and biodegradable pads in Nepal right now however some research on this domain is carried out. Also low-cost sanitary pads for rural women made from waste banana tree fiber were sold under the trade name “Saathi” in India which will be an expensive product for nepali women and inaccessible for rural Nepal. There is a product from pee safe which is cost heavy in India itself so its import in Nepal will be challenging for people to adopt these pads. So our market is not very crowded with other products. This also creates separate kinds of challenges for us which can be tackled with respect to time.

1. Project Impacts

1. Rural women who cannot regularly purchase one-time usable pads, women who are not in access to pads, and women who feel cloth as a threat to personal health are benefited by the project.

2. Research on the natural fiber used for making reusable pads and biodegradable pads.

   1. Socio-economic impact

      1. Farmers with an abundant amount of natural fiber resources like bananas, bamboo can sell their resources

      2. Employment opportunity generation for women

      3. Reduction on import of pad from other countries

   2. Industrial impact

      1. Fiber to fabrics industry can be formed

      2. Nepal-based products can be formed

   3. Menstrual health is one of the serious problems worldwide and there are many institutions working on dignified menstrual campaigns, the bi-pad will broaden the research horizon as it focuses on natural and biodegradable agro fabrics.

   4. Clothes are hard in nature as compared to thin fabrics but the extraction of thin fabrics from naturally available resources like bamboo, banana trees requires some advanced machinery. The business on a large scale is intended to have some advanced machinery for fabrics extraction. This will expand the research field on various fabrics products and help to replace more fabrics-based products.

2. Project Team Organization

1. Role of Participating Institutions

Major participating organizations we have focused on are the NGO’s and INGO’s working for empowering women economically as well as organizations working for safe menstruation. There are a lot of such organizations but the challenge could be reaching out to them despite being an organization which has a lot to offer.

How we cooperate with the institutions: By focusing on their motive and our offerings