Yes the de Montfort is a good option... Its a two chamber incinerator built using refractory fire bricks that can with stand high temperatures , we have installed in 38 learning institutions... And three small hospitals in Kenya the results are amazing.

Regards Eva

Dear All

Am excited mhm stakeholders are starting to look at MHM wholistically, Am Eva from Kenya, www.gsaep.org I Having been dealing with sanitary waste disposal training,advisory and programs in Kenya for the last 8 years, mainly in institutions with over 800 hundred girls, there's need to offer environmental based solutions on matters of disposal, we have constructed over 38 two chamber demont Incinerator that attain over 800 degrees recommended minimum heat for incineration Globally the environment conservation is a key issue,has we offer solutions on disposal let us be keen to ensure that environmental policies and regulations are observed.

Thank you for the notification Esther!

Dear Susannah

There is meeting on right now about designing reusable sanitary pads.

It consists of representatives from 3 partner organisations involved in MHM projects here in Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.

Cheers
Esther

Hi All,

The issue with incinerating disposable pads, is that if the pads contain chlorine or fluorine, this will give off toxic fumes when burned. As far as I know pads have trace amount of chlorine to bleach them.

The best way of doing this would be to have a catalytic converter attached to the exhaust of your incinerator, this should deal with the toxic fumes.

Cheers
Fausto

Or reusable cotton cloth... What were the women using before the disposables and how did they process it? Make sure that is do-able in this current situation.

Dear John,

To answer your question:

Has the subject of the dangers of burning non reusable MHM material been discussed on Susana?

I think the answer is no.

I am guessing that when the menstrual hygiene products contain plastics then the gases produced from burning would not be good for air quality!
It could be that people are caught between a rock and a hardstone though if they have no other way of disposal?

Certainly not ideal.

Perhaps the people on this forum who have experiences with sanitary pad burners could say something about this issue?

It's another reason in favor of menstrual cups which are reused for years and not burned (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup).

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Juergen and Colleagues,
Thanks for your posts.

SEI's Global Review of Sanitation System Trends and Interactions with Menstrual Management Practice states: "Incineration releases dioxins and other noxious gases, causing respiratory illnesses, air pollution, and contributing to climate change."

A colleague recently shared the below article:
ecofemme.org/2015/04/breaking-the-silenc...trual-hygiene-waste/

Has the subject of the dangers of burning non reusable MHM material been discussed on Susana?
Best regards,
John

Dear inajurga,

I had recently help on a similar incinerator question,

from Toby Gould, Technical Support Services Manager, of RedR, London, www.redr.org.uk (people and skills for disaster relief), Technical Support Service: (Free for all humanitarian workers, for details see our website or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),

maybe it is helpful to you too:

...
I have no experience of the design of the medical facilities, but there has been a lot of development work on incinerators for small medical facilities that can be accessed here: www.mw-incinerator.info/en/101_welcome.html

The de Montfort incinerator is considered very good for small to medium sized health facilities and Jim Pickens, who designed it at de Montfort University would be willing to answer questions if necessary.

Regards,
Detlef SCHWAGER

So, i have been looking into small incinerators for Sanitary Pads and even used the previous mentioned design in designing one here in Naivasha, Kenya. It defiantly gets VERY hot. With only 25ksh worth of charcoal (1/2 a small bucket) we are trying to burn about 50L of compressed waste. Attached is a picture of the current incinerator. The idea is to now attach it to a women's toilet so they will have direct access of disposing sanitary pads without anyone seeing or knowing. Then once a month, when it is full, a small amount of charcoal or wood will be used to hopefully properly burn the sanitary pads.

my question out there is how do we KNOW that the waste is burning properly?

Karibu!
I also just realized that there's some good material when I google for "Maka Pads".

E.g. www.questafrica.org/Mkmusaazi.aspx