Pune-based scientists develop incinerator for sanitary pads

PUNE: A city-based team of scientists has developed an ecofreindly sanitary napkin incinerator. This differs from other incinerators as it meets strict pollution norms and controls generation of aerosols that are hazardous to health. The team recently patented the design.

The team is from the Department of Microbiology, Yashwantrao Mohite College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Bharati Vidyapeeth.

Bharat Ballal, Head of Department of Microbiology said, "The machine primarily focuses on zero carbon dioxide emission. Hence it adheres to strict pollution-free ways to ensure it is eco-friendly. Our study shows that a woman on average generates 125 kg of non-biodegradable waste through her annual use of sanitary napkins. This highlights the increasing environmental burden the pads are. Hence we designed this machine to dispose of the napkins in an eco-friendly way.”

He said the incinerator has an added advantage. “This new design ensures that the aerosols produced by the disposal of pads is not dispersed off in the environment. The used sanitary napkins have pathogens like staphylococci which can spread up to a kilometre if not contained. These pathogens have potential to develop serious diseases in a community. However, this new design can stop the pathogenic spread as well,” said Ballal.

He said the incinerator can be made in half the price of other available machines in the market.

“Also, with no-profit no-loss, our team can give this machine at lowers costs to schools, societies and other institutions. At a time, the machine can dispose of 25 sanitary napkins and after the cycle completes it can again incinerate. This makes the machine viable for any place,” said Ballal.

Along with Ballal, the model was developed by Prafull Shede from Abasaheb Garware College and research scholar Renuka Ballal from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Information Technology and Biotechnology. Atithi Jagdale, Sulagna Das and Divya Chandrasekharan, post graduate students from Yashwantrao Mohite College of Arts, Science and Commerce participated in the project.