After low-cost version, ‘pad man’ aims to make biodegradable ones

After making an affordable sanitary pad, Arunachalam Muruganatham, who is considered to be the ‘pad man’ of India’, aims to come out with yet another innovation in the same category.

A mammoth problem

He said he plans to introduce a biodegradable sanitary pad to address a mammoth problem of sanitary pads getting piled up in landfills.

Muruganatham, who presented the story behind his innovation at the Sustainability Summit, organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), said a machine was ready and trials were on to create a biodegradable pad. “I am confident that it will work, but would take some time before the final product hits the market,” he said.

He said that the problem was quite huge as an estimated 1,200 crore sanitary pads were discarded every ýear. “They take take 500 to 800 years to degrade as the plastic used in them is non-biodegradable,” he said, quoting Menstrual Health Alliance India.

Sustainable models

Muruganatham, who faced several difficulties in making the affordable pads, said he believes in sustainable models. Asked whether he is gunning to become a unicorn, he said it was not a target.

“What is the use of becoming a unicorn without creating any social impact? I could reach to the places with my product where no corporate firm could venture,” he said.

“My dream was to be a solution to a problem. I have set up 5,300 low-cost sanitary pad-making machines in different parts of the country,” he said.

“I have created a measurable social impact. Over 4.5 crore women shifted from unhygienic methods to hygienic sanitary pads,” he said.