India's Menstrual Hygiene Revolution: Embracing Sustainability for a Healthier Future

Avanish Singh
May 4
7 min read

By Avanish Singh | Rayaan Trading & Services A continuation of: "History of Sanitary Napkins: When Did It Start and What Is the Future?"

Welcome back. If you read Part 1, you already know how menstrual hygiene evolved from papyrus and rags to the superabsorbent pads of the modern era. You know about Kotex, the World War I bandage breakthrough, and the long road from taboo to the pharmacy shelf.

But the story did not end in 2008. In fact, for hundreds of millions of women — especially in India — the real story was only just beginning.

Part 2 picks up where we left off. This time, we go closer to home.

India's Own Revolution: The Man Who Changed Everything

While global brands like Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark were refining their products for urban markets, the vast majority of Indian women had no access to any of it.

As recently as 2011, the National Family Health Survey estimated that fewer than 12% of Indian women used sanitary napkins. The rest relied on cloth, ash, sand, dried leaves, or simply endured — hidden from conversation, hidden from health systems, and largely hidden from policy.

Then came a man from Coimbatore who changed everything.

Arunachalam Muruganantham, a school dropout and welder by trade, was disturbed to discover that his wife was using dirty rags during menstruation because they could not afford commercial pads. He spent the next fourteen years — often ridiculed, sometimes labelled mentally ill, even separated from his family — obsessively working to understand how a sanitary pad was made and how to replicate it cheaply.

What he discovered was both shocking and empowering: the raw material used in commercial pads (cellulose pine bark fibre) cost a fraction of what the finished product was sold for. The price women paid was not for the material — it was for the brand.

By 2006, Muruganantham had developed a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine that could be operated by women in rural areas. His machines now operate in over 1,300 villages across 23 states in India, producing pads that cost roughly one-third the market rate. He turned down acquisition offers from multinational corporations and chose instead to sell his machines to self-help groups, creating livelihoods while solving a hygiene crisis.

He was named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014 — a recognition not just of a product, but of a movement.

Government Steps In: Policy and Public Health

Muruganantham's work caught the attention of policymakers. Through the 2010s, India began treating menstrual hygiene as a public health mandate rather than a private matter.

Key policy milestones include:

Kishori Shakti Yojana & Rajiv Gandhi Scheme (2011): Among the first government programmes to distribute subsidized sanitary napkins to adolescent girls in rural areas through ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers. Pads were priced at just ₹6 for a pack of six under the brand name Freedays.

GST Controversy & Removal (2018): For years, sanitary napkins were taxed at 12% under India's Goods and Services Tax — classified alongside luxury items. After sustained campaigning by activists, students, and women's rights organisations, the government removed GST on sanitary napkins entirely in July 2018. It was a landmark moment — a policy admission that menstrual hygiene is not a luxury but a necessity.

Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Schools: The Swachh Bharat Mission and various state education departments began mandating proper sanitation infrastructure in schools — separate toilets for girls, handwashing facilities, and in many cases, vending machines or napkin dispensers within school premises.

West Bengal's own push: The state government launched schemes under the Kanyashree and health ministry programmes to ensure girls in government schools received hygiene education and access to sanitary products — a direct push relevant to communities across Eastern India, where Rayaan Trading & Services operates.

The Disposal Crisis Nobody Talked About

Here is a fact that Part 1 did not have room to address, but which cannot be ignored.

The average woman uses approximately 11,000 to 17,000 sanitary napkins in her lifetime. A conventional sanitary pad contains plastic, adhesive, and synthetic fibres — materials that take 500 to 800 years to decompose in a landfill.

India alone generates an estimated 113,000 tonnes of menstrual waste every year.

Most of this is disposed of in the worst possible ways — wrapped in newspaper and thrown into regular waste bins, flushed down toilets (causing serious drainage blockages), or burned in the open (releasing toxic dioxins into the air).

In schools, hostels, offices and public spaces, the problem is acute. Women often have no dignified, safe, or sanitary way to dispose of used pads. The result is both a public health hazard and a constant source of embarrassment.

This is where sanitary napkin incinerators entered the conversation — not as a luxury addition but as an essential infrastructure requirement.

A properly installed incinerator burns used pads at high temperatures, reducing them to ash, eliminating pathogens, and doing so without the toxic open-burning emissions. Schools, colleges, hospitals, corporate offices and government institutions across India are now mandated under several state guidelines to install both dispensing and disposal solutions together.

The install-dispense-dispose chain is now considered the minimum standard for a hygienically responsible institution.

The Green Wave: Sustainable Alternatives Take Root

Alongside the access revolution, a quieter but powerful sustainability movement has been reshaping what a "sanitary napkin" even means.

Biodegradable Pads: Brands like Saathi (India), Eco Femme, and several others have developed pads made from banana fibre, bamboo, corn starch, and other plant-based materials that decompose in weeks rather than centuries. Saathi's bamboo-based pads, for instance, decompose in about six months under composting conditions.

Reusable Cloth Pads: A modern reinterpretation of the oldest solution — but now designed with multiple leak-proof layers, antimicrobial fabric, and snapping mechanisms for secure fit. Brands like Stonesoup and Vedicinals are making reusable pads fashionable and practical, especially in eco-conscious urban markets.

Menstrual Cups: Made from medical-grade silicone, a single menstrual cup can last up to ten years, eliminating thousands of disposables. They are gaining significant traction in urban India, though adoption in rural areas remains low due to cultural hesitation and lack of proper WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) infrastructure.

Period Underwear: Absorbent undergarments with built-in leak-proof layers that can be washed and reused. Still a nascent category in India but growing rapidly in Tier 1 cities.

Organic Cotton Pads: Free from chlorine bleaching, synthetic fragrance, and plastic top sheets. Brands like The Woman's Company and Carmesi have built loyal urban followings among health-conscious consumers.

The Indian organic/sustainable menstrual hygiene market was valued at approximately $50 million in 2023 and is projected to grow at over 12% annually through 2030. The consumer is increasingly informed, increasingly demanding, and increasingly unwilling to accept products that harm either her body or the planet.

Technology Meets Access: The Rise of the Vending Machine

Perhaps the most practical and immediate solution to the access gap has been the sanitary napkin vending machine.

Think about the barriers that prevent a girl from buying a sanitary pad:

She may not have cash in the exact denomination.
The shop may be far from school or college.
She may feel embarrassed asking a male shopkeeper.
The shop may be closed when she needs it most.
In a rural area, there may be no shop at all.

A vending machine eliminates every single one of these barriers.

Installed in a toilet or corridor, available 24 hours, operated anonymously, dispensing at subsidized or cost-price rates — a vending machine gives a girl what no awareness campaign alone can: access at the moment of need, without shame.

Modern sanitary napkin vending machines have evolved considerably from their early coin-operated predecessors:

Coin + currency note acceptance, making them usable without exact change
UPI and QR code payment integration is critical for India's digital payment ecosystem
Multi-brand, multi-size dispensing to cater to different preferences
IoT-enabled stock monitoring, allowing administrators to know when refilling is needed remotely
Low maintenance, vandal-resistant designs suitable for school and college environments
Subsidised pricing configurations, allowing institutions to offer pads at ₹5–₹10 per unit

In institutions across West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Tripura — the regions where Rayaan Trading & Services operates — these machines are now transforming daily reality for students, working women, and staff who previously had no reliable access during school or work hours.

A vending machine is not just a dispenser. It is a statement from an institution that it sees, respects, and provides for the women within its walls.

What the Future Holds

The next decade will reshape menstrual hygiene in ways that are already beginning to take shape in laboratories, boardrooms, and grassroots campaigns.

Smart Pads: Researchers in several countries are developing pads embedded with biosensors that can detect indicators of endometriosis, PCOS, and infections from menstrual fluid — turning a routine hygiene product into an early diagnostic tool. Clinical applications are likely within the next five to seven years.

Complete Biodegradability: The race is on to develop a pad that performs like a conventional pad but decomposes completely within weeks. Startups working with sugarcane bagasse, seaweed, and mushroom mycelium are showing promising early results.

Menstrual Leave Policy: Several Indian states and companies have begun introducing menstrual leave policies, recognising period pain as a legitimate health condition. As this becomes mainstream, demand for quality menstrual hygiene products and disposal infrastructure in workplaces will only grow.

Rural Vending Networks: With the expansion of Jan Aushadhi Kendras and government-backed dispensing programmes, vending machines may soon operate as part of a national network in PHCs (Primary Health Centres), Anganwadis, and rural schools — each connected to a central monitoring system.

Period Poverty as a Political Issue: The conversation has shifted. Menstrual hygiene is now discussed in Parliament, state assemblies, school boards, and corporate HR policies. The taboo is not yet gone, but its grip is weakening with every year.

Closing Thoughts: From Ancient Egypt to a School in Bengal

What began with papyrus fibres on the banks of the Nile has become one of the most important public health conversations of our time.

The history of the sanitary napkin is not simply the history of a product. It is the history of how societies have valued — or failed to value — the basic dignity of women and girls.

In India, we are at an inflection point. The infrastructure is being built. The conversations are being had. The policies are being written. What remains is the will to implement, the investment to scale, and the collective courage to speak about menstruation without lowering our voices.

Every vending machine installed in a school corridor is a small act of that courage. Every incinerator placed in a college toilet block is a commitment to dignity. Every biodegradable pad sold is a vote for the planet our daughters will inherit.

The future of menstrual hygiene is not just about better products. It is about better systems, better access, and a better India.

Avanish Singh is the Proprietor of Rayaan Trading & Services, a Kolkata-based manufacturer and supplier of Sanitary Napkin Vending Machines, Incinerators, and E-Garbage Loaders, serving institutions across Eastern India.

📞 9088822299 | 🌐 vendingmach.in | ✉️ rayaanservices@gmail.com

Read Part 1: History of Sanitary Napkins: When Did It Start and What Is the Future?