Manufacture of reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers

Most urban cities in developing countries especially in slump areas lack proper areas for disposing pads used by females who have reached menstruating age. The improper disposal of such used pads in overcrowded areas posses a great health risk to the people living in such cities. Although there has been an introduction of reusable pads, an intervention to develop reusable, biodegradable pad embedded knickers made out of natural plant products has not been clearly established especially in developing districts like Arua district. Development of this product will protect the environment from pollution caused by the non biodegradable sanitary towels, prevention against diseases caused as a result of poor disposal of such pads and also prevention of school drop out among young adolescent girls who consider menstruation as a misfortune.

Arua district is located in northern Uganda and is one of the developing districts in Uganda highly inhabited by refugees from Congo and South Sudan with a total population of 782,077 people out of which 407,322 were females by 2014(Uganda bureau of statistics, 2017). The adolescent stage of females normally starts around 12 to 19 years which is accompanied by many physical, psychological and biological changes like development of breasts, menstruation among others.

Luffa plant produces fruits whose interior is made up of sponge-like structures that have an excellent absorption ability to quickly any liquids including blood. These could be used as a cheap available local material that could be used together with cotton cloth to make comfortable, convenient and reusable pad embedded knickers. This intervention will help avert the challenge of improper disposal of used pads and in turn protect the environment from pollution and also prevention against diseases spread as a result of improper disposal of used pads.

The total population of females between ten to thirty nine years in Arua district  was 218,097 by 2014 ( Uganda bureau of statistics, 2017). Most of such females are school going girls who perceive menstruation as a misfortune. Some of them also lack skills of using sanitary pads therefore do not dispose them in a proper way . Further more the sanitary pads available are made out of non biodegradable material that pollutes the environment. Therefore an intervention to develop reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers would be a great solution to avoid such challenges.

Most urban cities in developing countries especially in slump areas lack areas for disposing pads used by females who have reached menstruating age. The improper disposal of such used pads in overcrowded areas posses a great health risk to the people living in such cities. Although there has been an introduction of reusable pads, an intervention to develop reusable pad embedded knickers has not been clearly established especially in developing districts like Arua district.
Luffa plant produces fruits whose interior is made up of sponge-like structures that have an excellent absorption ability to quickly any liquids including blood. Such fruits normally dry up and are wasted since they are not eaten up by both humans and animals but they could be used as a cheap available local material that could be used together with cotton cloth to make comfortable, convenient and reusable pad embedded knickers. This intervention will help avert the challenge of improper disposal of used pads and in turn protect the environment from pollution and also prevention against diseases spread as a result of high accumulation of used pads.

There has been introduction of reusable sanitary towels in Uganda. However, such reusable towels are expensive,  cause allergies, require knowledge on how to use them, inconvenient and made out of non biodegradable material that pollutes the environment.

An intervention to make reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers will help solve the above challenges that exist with the non biodegradable sanitary towels. Reusable pad embedded knicker is a comfortable, easy to use, convenient biodegradable product that will save the environment from pollution.

Manufacture of reusable pad embedded knickers is a new application of an existing technology that not only aims at protecting the environment from pollution caused by improper disposal of used non biodegradable sanitary pads, prevent school girls from drop out but also prevention of outbreak of diseases as a result of improper disposal of such used pads.

Reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers will be made out of a local plant material whose fruits contain sponge like structure and has an excellent absorption ability to quickly absorb any liquids. This plant is normally destroyed since its fruits are not edible. Such plant product could be used to develop other important products like reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers. The sponge will be processed and sewed together with cotton cloth to make convenient and environmentally friendly biodegradable pad embedded knickers.

Due to the many problems encountered with the use of non biodegradable disposal sanitary pads for example cause of allergies, environmental pollution, improper disposal that breeds bacteria and cause diseases, among others, an introduction to reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers would be the best solution to avert such problems. This was clear in the questionnaires we administered to a number of females in Arua municipality in Arua district. 80% of the respondents preferred the introduction of reusable pad embedded knickers since they are convenient, comfortable, easy to use relatively cheaper and can be washed after use with clean water and soap, sun dried and ironed properly for use in the next periods compared to other disposable non biodegradable sanitary pads whose poor disposal has acted as a breeding ground for bacteria that cause many diseases to human.

So far we have managed to pilot the product to twenty females who appreciate its uniqueness compared to other sanitary pads. By the end of the year we hope to serve about 100 females. With the expansion of the project we expect to serve over 100,000 females in five years. 

First and foremost, we expect to obtain land and put up a factory that produces reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers.

We expect to acquire sewing machines to help ease work.

We also expect to expand our land so that we could plant many of such plants to obtain many raw materials and increase production

We expect to improve on the means of transportation of our product to our customers.

We expect our product to be tasted and approved by Uganda national bureau of standards to adhere to the world health regulations.

We also expect to increase the number of our staff as we progress.

We have a problem of limited funds. So far we had a lot of financial struggle to produce the first products.

Limited working space is also our challenge since we have no permanent place to establish our company.

Poor means of transportation of our products to our customers.

Limited knowledge about the product.

Seek for funds inform of donations and grants to support our project.

Acquiring a place to establish the company.

Acquisition of an improved means of transport to ease transportation of our products.

We except to have strict adherence to accountability so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the project.

Conducting sensitization programs to introduce the product to the members of the society.

So far we are only ten people who developed the project and we are all committed to working harder and improve the project.

We have no part time staff yet. But we expect to recruit many in the nearby future.

Me and my team are committed members who have passion for work and to serve the community to see that everyone has a better future.

Some of my team members are experts in fashion and design so we expect to come up with very nice and attractive products to serve the females in the community. 

Some members in the team are experts in botany, environmental science therefore they will always give pieces of advice during the entire period of the project.

Availability of local plant raw materials for processing the products.

currently, we are not working with any organisations yet but we expect to have partnerships with many organisations that can help us develop our project.

Our products are reusable biodegradable pad embedded knickers that are affordable, easy to use and convenient to all females who have reached menstruating age. This product also does not require much technical knowledge since its a pad already embedded in a knicker that can be put on normally like other knickers. 

Sanitary pads currently on market are sold expensively at a cost of 4,

000 Uganda shillings per packet which contains seven disposal non biodegradable pads which at times may not be enough for a single cycle. Our product will be sold at a relatively cheaper cost of 3,500 Uganda shillings per product. This is relatively cheaper, convenient, comfortable, reusable and environmentally friendly since its a pad embedded in a knicker and it can be washed properly with clean water and soap, sun dried, ironed and reused in the next periods. We expect to increase our marketing agents who move with the products from door to door and advance the marketing process by making radio, TV announcements, and promotions to advertise our products.

Currently we are working hard to receive financial support inform of donations and grants to support our project so that it can achieve both the short and long term objectives of its establishment. However, we expect to sell the products to generate more revenue.

We also expect to have strict adherence to accountability so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the project.

We already have a staff who is an expert in accounting and finance who will be able to provide financial advice to other staff of the project.

we expect to get connections and partnerships to other companies and organisations who have the same product so that we can expand ours too from the ideas we obtain from them through SOLVE. 

We also expect SOLVE to connect us to the organizations that give donations and grants to help us develop our project.

Always, Feathers and other  companies that make sanitary pads. We would like to partner with these companies through seminars, workshops and conferences and at all levels of production from resource mobilization, processing to marketing our products.

we seek help  and financial support inform of donations and grants from women prize innovation to support our project. We expect to use the funds provided to us with strict adherence to accountability so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the project.

We expect the funds provided to help us develop and improve on the quality of our products.

We expect to use the money to buy sewing machines that help to ease work when embedding a pad into a knicker, buy land and start the expansion of the project, increase the number of staff as we progress, improve on our marketing strategies, means of transporting our products to the customers, have an established company and other developments that we expect to occur in the near future.