Team:MITADTBIO Pune/Human Practices
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
A project like ours that deals with environmental remediation merits the need to involve different sections of society to develop a well rounded approach to solving the problem at hand.
For us, “Human Practices” began much before we had a concrete plan of action. Having decided to work on a project that dealt with the plastic waste menace initially, we had so many different aspects we could have chosen to address. Confronted with a vast array of problems at hand, zeroing down on one specific aspect was our first challenge.
With a rough idea of what we aimed to address with regard to waste sanitary pads, we set about getting inputs from waste collectors and municipal workers in our localities, questioning them about their views and experiences to ascertain the feasibility of our project. Having factored in these varied opinions, we were satisfied to have settled on a niche problem to solve, a problem that flies under the radar thanks to the redundant taboo that cloaks it.
Mr. Deepak Kukale
Deepak Kukale has been working as a sanitation worker in Pune for the last decade. His job description involves collecting garbage from housing society's across the city and segregating the garbage before sending it out to the local garbage dump. While the local municipality has asked citizens to place used pads in bags with a red dot for easy identification, Deepak says this isn’t being practiced. Moreover, while soiled diapers and pampers are discarded as wet waste, this isn’t the case for used pads which more often than not are wrapped in paper and thrown out with the dry waste. This makes it difficult for workers like Deepak who have to open up such wrapped packages before they can ascertain the contents. To compound his plight, he does this with no protective gear, not even gloves and says the municipality neither supply such gear or precautionary measures to be undertaken. To sum things up, Deepak tells us he falls sick often and attributes it to working conditions such as these.
Mr. Sathya Natarajan
Mr. Sathya Natarjan is a well-known environmentalist from Pune who has championed the cause of menstrual waste and its various pitfalls in the city through the "Red Dot Campaign". Our interactions with him were instrumental in understanding the gravity of the situation at hand and the hidden nuances that don’t appear at face value. The first thing he pointed out was the augmentation that the menstrual waste crisis is on the cusp of. With the onset of menarche now occurring at younger ages and simultaneous increase in the use of sanitary napkins, the mound of waste generated is only going to burgeon, unfortunately with no concrete solution in mind. Moreover, coming up with a method to not only solve the problem efficiently but to do so whilst ensuring it doesn’t have any ramifications is the need of the hour. Closer to home, Pune is one of two cities in the nation known to segregate menstrual waste. However, the ultimate destination of the waste is the same as any other city. Currently, menstrual waste is either incinerated or dumped. Incineration of such wastes comes with its own set of subsequent problems eventually resulting in the release of toxic and carcinogenic dioxins. With only two incinerators currently operable in the city, that means the preferred destination is a landfill. However, Pune has no separate landfill designated specifically for this waste, which means menstrual waste ends up dumped in open spaces with other garbage, serving as a hotbed for pathogens and a danger to the surrounding environment. One aspect that Mr Natarjan pointed out was the dignity of labour involved in handling such wastes. For places that don’t segregate their menstrual wastes, the task is carried out by sanitation workers, who rummage through heaps of waste, often times days after they’ve actually been discarded. To expect another person to partake in such a task, one that many a time we ourselves shy away from is unfair. Moreover, with used pads usually being discarded wrapped in layers of newspaper, workers have to open them up before they can ascertain what the waste actually is. The Red Dot Campaign, where women are encouraged to mark their sanitary waste with a large red dot prior to disposal tries to bring the dignity of laborers to the forefront. In fact, it is a programme that would hugely benefit us when we scale up PEred. Finally, Sir brought up the taboo associated with menstruation and how that could serve as a hindrance to our project. While menstrual cups are un harmful to the environment, people often hesitate to use them, the taboo of using an insertional sanitary product instead of a topical one, being a major hindrance in particular. Changing people’s outlook towards this, especially in a country like India would require a seismic shift in social opinion, a task that requires a multitude of factors falling into place. So while addressing this at the grassroot level may seem an ideal way to confront the problem, it isn’t the most practical means.
Mr. Dipak Roda
Since PEred is being engineered to utilize enzymes as a means to scythe down heaps of menstrual waste across the country, the first expert we asked to weigh in on our project was Mr. Dipak Roda, Vice President at Advanced Enzyme Technologies Ltd., India. Over the course of numerous skype calls, Mr.Roda provided fantastic insights from the industry point of view. Having initially worked on cellulase & several other enzyme systems at the start of his career, his experience is something that heavily influenced the path we took for our project. Vitally, Sir brought to our attention the fact that even though cellulose is abundant in sanitary napkins, it is in a complex state of whole cellulose and making it more accessible to PEred via initial break down remains one of the primary challenges. Looking at the complexity of the substrate to be treated, Sir suggested we use a whole cellulase enzyme along with complementary enzyme systems and a microorganism to produce the necessary enzymes. The simultaneous functioning of different enzymes increases the chances of our enzymes partaking in amensalism. Moreover, various metabolites of microorganisms may be capable of cleaving substrate components. Thus studying our enzymes & microorganism system, the mutual effect they have on each other and their compatibility is an important aspect Sir stressed on. While we had decided to use E.Coli as the chassis to develop PEred, Mr.Roda gave us a glimpse of how the industry viewed E.Coli, an unfavourable pathogenic organism they more often than not shied away from. Referring to the GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) List of Organisms that Industry prefers is what Sir recommended. This would help us develop a more sustainable project for the future as we aim to scale up PEred and make it available to the masses. Having initially, contemplated using Cellulose as the sole Carbon source for PEred, Sir’s opinions on there being potential interference between the enzymes specifically cellulase led us to put this idea on the back burner for the time being. While this iteration of PEred is focussed solely on targeting the plastic component of soiled sanitary napkins, pending future research and experimental study we plan to design a more robust organism that is also able to utilize the cellulose component of sanitary pads.
Heading Back to the Lab
-
Our Human Practices ensured we left the 4 walls of our lab behind on a regular basis to go out into the real world and gain invaluable insights into PEred and its potential effect on the environment. Returning back with tonnes of useful information it was time to take what we learnt outside the lab and integrate it into the development of PEred.
-
Through our interactions with Mr. Natarajan we recognized the burgeoning problem of Sanitary waste and the urgent need to address this via a multitude of channels. This prompted us to get in touch with Project Amara, a local NGO working to dismantle the taboo surrounding menstruation while also spreading awareness about the toxic plastic waste menstrual products generate.
Click here to read more about the joint sessions we held with the Project Amara team. Having spoken to Sanitation workers we realised the disregard for “Dignity of Labour” when it comes to handling Sanitary waste. This inspired us to come up with a comprehensive solution to deal with the crisis. Apart from engineering PEred in the lab, we set about designing a bio-reactor solely for the purpose of degrading soiled Sanitary pads. Moreover, this also motivated us to spread more awareness about the Red Dot campaign in our college and nearby localities.
Click here to view sanitary pad degrading bio-reactor-
When it comes to Engineering PEred, the inputs of Mr. Roda have been irreplaceable. Having initially, contemplated leaving the cellulose component of the pad to degrade on its own naturally, Sir’s opinions led us to use incorporate a gene for cellulase in our genetic circuit so as to mobilize the previously immobilized cellulose and hasten the total degradation potency of PEred. Infact, we also contemplated using cellulose as the sole carbon source for PEred, an idea we plan to incorporate in the near future as we seek to step up PEred for industrial applications.
-
In conclusion, human practices gave us a brilliant opportunity to learn so much more about our project and explore facets that would’nt have cropped up otherwise. Integrating our learning not only with respect to the biological aspect of PEred but vitally the ultimate aim of inventing a sustainable and practical solution has been an immersive experience that we hope fits into the grand scheme of building a better future.