Waste management and environmental impact of absorbent hygiene products: A review

Abstract

Absorbent hygiene products (AHP) have received much interest due to the notion that their end-of-life (EoL) stage has high environmental impacts. Since the use of AHP will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, information that helps with a reduction in the environmental impacts of AHP through their life cycle is needed. This research presents an estimation of AHP in municipal waste, and it also reviews and discusses waste management options, available treatments at bench, pilot or full scale, and life cycle assessments (LCAs) available in the literature. Municipal waste of countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development contains on average 2.7% of baby nappies, 4.8% of adult nappies and 0.5% of sanitary pads (in weight), whereas that of Latin-American countries have 7.3%, 3.3%, and 0.9%, respectively. Management options for AHP waste in developed countries are landfilling and incineration, while in developing countries AHP are disposed of in dumpsites and landfills. Most LCAs identify significant environmental impacts in the production of raw materials, while EoL scenarios involving incineration and landfill were found to have a significant contribution to global warming potential. Substitution with alternative products has been suggested as a way of decreasing environmental impacts; however, their use frequently causes a trade-off on different impact categories. Municipalities could use a wide range of policy tools, such as extended producer responsibility systems, bans, levies, ecolabelling, or a combination of these, to reduce the environmental and economic burden of AHP waste.

Inapt management of menstrual hygiene waste (MHW): An urgent global environmental and public health challenge in developed and developing countries

“…This value is in accord with data about the amount of paper used for feminine hygiene products (tampons and sanitary pads) extracted from retail sales market analysis by Statista (see Table 1 ). Recent literature suggests a mass of 1,470 kg for a month ( Velasco Perez et al., 2021 ); however this value corresponds to the French market data, then our proposed value can be considered more reliable if women in critical conditions are considered. It corresponds to a global amount of about 67 kg of sanitary waste along each woman life (considering the migrant condition), which is about ½ of the waste value generally proposed for a woman in the most cited literature ( Bharadwaj and Patkar, 2004 ).…”

Modeling of 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) for Sustainable Construction Waste Reduction: A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM)

“…However, studies disclose some statistics and facts, such as that many contractors have waste percentage guidelines that they use when estimating bills of quantities. These proportions mainly depend on their labor force experience [102]. However, the contractor will likely engage with several subcontractors on various projects, and the subcontractors' labor will be motivated to complete the work as quickly as possible.…”

Absorbent hygiene products disposal behaviour in informal settlements: identifying determinants and underlying mechanisms in Durban, South Africa

“…Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHPs), which include disposable tissues, diapers, and feminine hygiene products, are essential to human dignity and hygiene, especially for women, the elderly, the ill, people who menstruate, parents, and other caregivers. Currently, few end-of-life (EoL) options exist for AHP waste, especially within the Global South, where the majority of AHP waste is disposed of within dumpsites or landfills [ 12 ]. Moreover, because the use of AHPs is expected to rise, it is anticipated that AHPs will become a growing waste management challenge, particularly in Southern cities, with less robust Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) systems, and which, as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated, are less able to manage increases in potentially hazardous waste [ 13 – 15 ].…”