Technical Brief No. 2 on Menstrual Hygiene Safe Disposal: Informing Standards Development for Small-scale Incinerators Frequently Deployed in Shared & Public Spaces (India)

Abstract

With increasing sanitary pad use, incinerators are a popular technology solution to handling menstrual waste in institutional settings such as schools, as well as in community and public toilet sites. Incinerator technologies in India vary widely, and include simple fuel-assisted burning chambers made of brick, tin or terracotta, small-scale electric incinerators, large and mid-sized commercial electric incinerators, and bio-medical incinerators. In India, incinerators are gaining in popularity as they potentially offer a complete on-site menstrual waste management solution. While incineration requires that menstrual waste is separated from other solid waste for treatment, it need not always involve the various steps required for solid waste management in terms of transportation of segregated waste, secondary segregation, storage, treatment and final disposal. Further, given the socio-cultural norms around seeing and handling menstrual blood, incinerators are one solution to minimize handling of such waste. Incinerators, however, pose certain health and environmental related risks and challenges. With the lack of regulatory standards for small and medium scale incinerators in India, many of the incinerators available in the market do not adhere to sound design principles and do not incorporate emission control measures to reduce toxic emissions. Often times, small scale incinerators are placed in closed spaces (within the toilet complex) or near the toilet, where by emissions can pose a threat to health. Many incinerators are installed with limited training of operators on how to run the machine and how best to maintain it. Anecdotal evidence suggests that small electric incinerators quickly become dysfunctional and cease to serve their purpose. Socio-cultural norms associated with burning of menstrual blood-born products can influence the use of incinerators directly by users and by operators, and need to be considered when installing such technologies. Two activities organized by WaterAid / India have been undertaken as a part of this task order: 1) roundtable with MHM and public health experts; 2) policy dialogue with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).