Analyse de cas - Saathi pads

Table of contents

1.        Introduction        1

2.        Situation Analysis        2

a)        Core activities        3

Accessibility and Awareness        4

3.        The 5 pillars of the regenerative economy        4

a)        Circular pillar        4

b)        Local pillar        6

c)        Bio-inspired pillar:        6

4.        Recommendations        7

a)        Local Pillar        7

b)        Circular Pillar        8

c)        Bio-inspired pillar        8

5.        Limitations        9

6.        Conclusion        9

Bibliography:        11

Appendix:        15

1. Introduction

Menstruation still faces many social, cultural and religious restrictions which are a barrier in the path of menstrual hygiene management (Kaur et al.. 2018). “Period poverty”, which is a lack of access to feminine hygiene products, is a reality for millions of girls and women across the world (Sculion, 2020). Even in Europe, as many as two in ten women cannot afford single-use menstrual items (Casey, 2019). In India, only 12% of women can afford sanitary protection (Sculion, 2020). In low-income and  middle-income  countries such as India, usual  products  for menstruation  include  cloths,  disposable  pads,  cotton wool,  tissue  paper,  leaves or even mud,  and  thus leakage  and vaginal rashes  are a  common  concern (Van Eijk et al., 2019). Reproductive tract infections are also 70% more common among women that do not use adequate menstrual protection (Sinha, 2011). Period poverty has also an impact on girl’s schooling as women in that situation miss on average 5 days of school in a month, amounting to 50 days in a year. This is also due to the cultural shame attached to menstruation. In some countries, women and young girls that are on their periods are ostracized from basic activities such as eating certain foods or socializing (Sanchez & Rodriguez, 2019)

Against this background, providing girls and women with safe and hygienic menstrual protection is essential. Nevertheless, even though disposable menstrual products have made menstruation hygienic, convenient and comfortable, the burden it has on the environment is considerable. Single-use menstrual products impact the environment throughout their entire lifecycle, from the production phase until the end-of-life. Firstly, tremendous amounts of material is used during the production process with large volumes of wood pulp, cotton, viscose rayon needed to manufacture super absorbent polymer (SAP) (Cabrera et al., 2019). Also, menstrual napkins are filled with plastics (e.g. wrapping, adhesives, applicators, leak proof base, etc.) with approximately 90% of crude-oil plastic (Casey, 2019). With 1,9 billion women of reproductive age, who thus menstruate each month for about two to seven days (Unicef, 2018), the amount of waste created is tremendous. It is estimated that a woman will use 5 to 15 thousands pads or tampons in her lifetime (Borunda, 2019).

This case examines an Indian company called “Saathi” who has developed 100% biodegradable sanitary pads. This company’s aim is to make menstrual hygiene accessible while adding value to society. The present case tries to analyse how Saathi integrates the regenerative economy’s five pillars: the bio-inspired, the circular, the local, the collaborative and the functional pillar. The case also offers recommendations on how Saathi could develop a more regenerative business model.

1. Situation Analysis

Saathi is an Indian company based in Ahmedabad which manufactures and sells sustainable sanitary pads made of banana fibers. The company has developed a cradle to cradle approach whereby the aim is not only to minimise negative influences but also to leave a positive ecological footprint (Epea, 2020). However, circularity was not Saathi’s core value from the beginning. The company was created in 2015 by Kristin Kagetsu, Tarun Bothra and Grace Kane who were inspired by the idea of improving women’s menstrual hygiene in India. To this end, Saathi quickly developed and built a machine able to produce low cost sanitary napkins. However, none of the pads produced by this machine were ever commercialized. Tarun Bothra explains in his Ted Talk that they quickly realized that their pads had negative externalities on the environment as they were also using the same plastic and chemicals as in mainstream pads and they were not addressing the disposal of its products. Furthermore, while they were tackling the issue of affordability, they were not dealing with the barriers of accessibility and awareness. Indeed, menstrual pad companies do not have proper distribution channels in rural parts of India and people in these areas have little knowledge and understanding about menstruation and feminine hygiene practices (Bothra, 2020). Following this realization, the founders completely changed the business model and Saathi’s mission became “to create hygiene products that are good for the body, environment, and community” (Tudu, 2019).

In order to fulfill its mission, Saathi developed a circular business model. Its pads’ primary source of material, banana fibers, is extracted from banana stems which are normally discarded after harvesting. This abundant wastestream is bought from local farmers in Gujarat and then converted by Saathi’s patent pending technology into the absorbent material needed in pads. This is beneficial to the community as farmers receive additional revenue from their plantations. Furthermore, only natural products are used and no fragrances or bleach are added in the manufacturing process of the pads, which are thus 100% biodegradable within 6 months. Waste is thus utilized to produce new products which are then returned to the soil as biological nutrients (Epea, 2020). Saathi also employs 75% of underprivileged women (Saathi, 2020b) .

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