Thiruvananthapuram Corporation mulls installing cloth pad vending machines

Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvananthapuram Corporation could be the first Corporation in Kerala to promote "sustainable menstruation", if deputy mayor Rakhi Ravikumar can get a ‘cloth pad’ project rolling. She said that some of the money set aside for ‘Ananthapuri Medicals’ could be used for the sustainable menstruation project. Earlier, the Corporation had announced that napkin vending machines would be set up in various public spaces. Now, Ms Ravikumar said that she would enquire into the technical feasibility of setting up ‘cloth pad’ vending machines, if not outlets for cloth pads.

“I had enquired whether the machines would vend cloth pads, and the technical person present at the purchase committee meeting said that it would be possible to vend cloth pads. However, this needs to be confirmed. Ideally, it should be cloth pads,” she says. The Corporation has tied up with HLL for the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 98 lakh. The machine, for a fee of Rs 10, would give three pads. These are to be set up near comfort stations as well as public toilets at various public places, including bus stops and railway stations. The civic body has another project which costs over Rs 50 lakh to set up napkin vending machines in schools. Earlier too, many companies had come forward to set up napkin vending machines at government girls’ schools. However, activists working in the field of women’s hygiene said that this would aggravate the environmental problem.

The National Green Tribunal had insisted that there should be scientific disposal of napkins, in response to a plea by activist Gopi Vijayakumar, according to Arjun Unnikrishnan, founder of a Kozhikode-based collective called ‘Red Cycle’. “Especially in schools such vending machines are an unnecessary expenditure, as napkins can be easily stocked in sick rooms. The priority of companies should be spreading awareness on disposing napkins, or reducing the use of plastic in their products,” he says. Meanwhile, people in Kerala are warming up to sustainable menstruation products. Rashmi Rajeev, an entrepreneur who for four years has been working with women’s hygiene products, says that the demand for menstrual cups has gone up over the last year.