If every woman and girl of menstruating age in India used disposable pads, 38,500,000,000 used pads would be discarded every month – an environmental disaster since each of these would take 500-800 years to degrade naturally XXX / May 26, 2021: Considering the immense non-biodegradable waste generated by disposable sanitary pads every month, sustainable menstrual hygiene in India can be achieved only with reusable pads made of organic material, said Anju Bist, Co-Director, Amrita SeRVe (Self Reliant Village) Program of Mata Amritanandamayi Math. Known as the “Pad Woman” of India for her zeal in promoting the use and reuse of sanitary pads made of cloth and banana fibre, she is the co-creator of Saukhyam Reusable Pads which have been awarded as the "Most Innovative Product" by the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. The pads were also lauded at the UN Climate Change Conference held in Poland in 2018. Said Anju Bist: “There are 355 million menstruating women an