Pune: Although the Red Dot campaign - encouraging a proper and dignified way of disposing sanitary waste from households - was started a year back, the outreach result is unsatisfactory and the outcome has not been very encouraging, claim the organisers.
To reiterate the need for proper disposal of sanitary waste, Rotary District 3131 and Solid Waste Collection and Handling (SWaCH) have jointly organised a Red Dot awareness rally from Good Luck Chowk to Balgandharva Rangmandir from 8 am to 9 am to mark International Women’s Day on March 8.
“The impact of Red Dot campaign and its awareness drive was felt for two-three months initially, later it gradually declined. The waste pickers try to counsel women about it,” said Aparna Susrala, Director of SWaCH.
The NGO has so far reached to two-three lakh homes spreading the awareness since February 2017. The Rotary Club has reached 5,000 women including school and college going girls, working women and homemakers since July 2017.
Deepa Gadgil, the first lady of Rotary District 3131, said many corporate women and school and college going girls have started purchasing the paper bag with a red dot on it, as wrapping of used sanitary napkins in an old
newspaper or paper bag and putting a red dot in it becomes wearisome.
Gadgil and Susrala said this pattern of proper disposal becomes tiresome due to which after some days the rate declines.
“Through this rally we are trying to reach a larger audience as the need to understand right way of disposing sanitary waste is a must now. We try to reach women individually from all walks of life and show them a video clip on ‘red dot awareness’. Many women have admitted that they have ignored this factor and now will act to improve their habit,” said Gadgil.
About the Red Dot Campaign
The campaign encourages households to dispose of sanitary wastes - sanitary napkins, baby diapers and adult diapers - in paper bags on which there is a big red dot.
This helps the garbage collectors and segregators identify such wastes and handle them without soiling themselves.
Sanitary waste amounts to three percent of every household waste and this waste can take up to 500 years to decompose in nature.
The Red Dot campaign highlights the risks faced by waste pickers during segregation of waste which exposes them to unwrapped used sanitary napkins which emit harmful and hazardous chemicals.
