Sanitary napkins
Sanitary napkins in Mangaluru schools
Bangalore Mirror by Deepthi Sanjiv, Mangaluru, 6th November 2014
The Karnataka Integrated Development Society, a non government organization, is in the process of setting up sanitary napkin vending machines in schools and colleges of Mangaluru. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Fr John Kunnathethu, executive director of the Society, said that the Society has been focusing on hygiene among girls and women in villages of Sullia and Puttur taluk through self-help groups.
He said, "Since 2012, we have been conducting workshops and awareness programmes for women. We have been importing sanitary napkins from China through a Kerala-based company Wager which is funding this project through their Corporate Social Responsibility programme. About 5,000 -10,000 napkins are distributed in villages once in two months.
They are priced from Rs 2 to Rs 5. We have now decided to move ahead and install vending machines that will be bought from Tamil Nadu. Plans are also to set up automatic incinerators. The programme has been a great success in Kerala and we hope to expand the same in the state. This is probably first of its kind initiative in the state, though it has been discussed in the past," he said.
The cost of an incinerator is about Rs 35,000. The price of vending machines varies from Rs 5,000 to Rs 19,000. The machine worth Rs 5,000 is manually operated, with no maintenance and is ideal for schools. They can carry about 25 napkins.
Costlier machines worth Rs 12,000 and Rs 19,000 (electricity or battery operated) can carry up to 35-50 napkins depending on the thickness.
Source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/others/Sanitary-napkins-in-Mangaluru-schools/articleshow/45052388.cms?