Green periods: Why India’s menstrual progress must now pivot to sustainability

Menstrual hygiene awareness has expanded significantly in India over the past decade. Government programmes, health workers and greater access to education have helped make menstrual hygiene a mainstream public-health concern. The change is visible in product use: between 2015-16 and 2023-24, the use of menstrual products rose from 48.2% to 75% among rural women and from 77.2% to 90.7% among urban women, according to the National Family Health Survey – 6, which was released recently.

India has made substantial progress in menstrual awareness and access. The next challenge is to ensure that this progress does not create a growing environmental burden. 

As more women gain access to menstrual products, the country must also confront what happens to those products after use. Disposable sanitary pads contain plastic and other materials that can remain in the environment for decades or centuries. Menstrual hygiene, therefore, is increasingly becoming an environmental question as well.

According to the WHO, menstrual products can create significant waste, particularly where formal sanitation and disposal systems are inadequate. Pads and tampons may end up in informal waste dumps, pit latrines, buried waste, or nearby water bodies. Menstrual stigma can make the problem worse when women lack safe and private facilities for disposal.

A growing waste stream

India has an estimated 38.10 crore women aged 15 to 49 in 2026, according to data attributed to the United Nations Population Division. If a woman uses an average of eight pads per menstrual cycle, the annual consumption can reach about 96 disposable pads per woman.

At that scale, menstrual waste becomes a sizeable national waste stream. The annual requirement could amount to roughly 3,658 crore menstrual products if the entire reproductive-age population used 96 products a year. The actual figure will be lower because product use varies considerably by age, menstrual cycle, access, and personal preference.

The NFHS data also shows that menstrual hygiene is far from universal. While product use has risen sharply, a section of women continues to rely on less hygienic materials or has limited access to menstrual products. The challenge, therefore, has two dimensions: ensuring that every woman can manage menstruation safely and ensuring that rising access does not create an equally large environmental burden.

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Education changed the conversation.

From access to sustainability

Reusable menstrual products offer one possible way forward. Reusable pads, menstrual underwear, menstrual cups and menstrual discs can reduce the volume of waste generated by single-use products while maintaining menstrual hygiene when used, cleaned and stored appropriately.

The economic argument is also relevant. A disposable pad costing ₹6 to ₹10 can cost roughly ₹576 to ₹960 a year for 96 pads. Reusable pads may cost ₹150 to ₹600 for a multi-pack and can last for several years. Menstrual underwear, generally priced from ₹300 to ₹1,000, can last around two to five years, while menstrual cups, priced approximately between ₹300 and ₹3,000, can last several years with proper care. 

Savings will vary by product, brand, replacement cycle, and individual needs. More importantly, reusable products can reduce the quantity of menstrual waste entering household garbage and, ultimately, landfills and water systems.

The next phase of menstrual awareness

India's menstrual-health journey has moved from awareness and access towards a broader question of sustainability. A few decades ago, the priority was to ensure that menstruation was understood as a normal biological process and that women had access to hygienic products. That work remains important, particularly for women who still lack adequate access.

But rising product use means we can no longer ignore the environmental consequences.

Disposable pads remain an important option for many women, and access to safe menstrual products should not be compromised in the name of sustainability. The objective should instead be to widen informed choices. Where reusable products are practical and acceptable, their greater adoption could reduce recurring household expenditure as well as the volume of menstrual waste.

The next measure of progress, therefore, may be more than how many women have access to menstrual products. It could also be how safely those products are disposed of and how much waste the menstrual-health system generates.

India has made considerable progress in breaking menstrual taboos and improving hygiene. The next step is to make that progress environmentally sustainable.

1.  https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/bulletin/online-first/blt.24.291421.pdf

2. https://geofactbook.com/countries/india/female-population-of-reproductive-age

3. https://sansad.in/getFile/annex/257/AU277.pdf?source=pqars