A young Vietnamese woman has initiated a project that manufactures reusable sanitary pads in an effort to reduce the amount of garbage dumped every day. Bui Thi Minh Ngoc established a project called Green Lady Vietnam in 2017 that has produced cloth menstrual pads – items that have started to be used in America, Europe, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam’s neighbors Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand. “An average woman uses up to 10,000 disposable sanitary towels during her entire life. But a standard sanitary towel decomposes as slowly as four plastic bags,” Ngoc, 25, said. She was motivated by the desire to offer sanitary pads made completely of cloth that are tailored to Vietnamese women. Often working ten to twelve hours a day, she has spent a large part of her time being employed full-time and devoting several hours of the day to plans to develop her own business. She had a hard time finding suitable cloth for eco-friendly, safe sanitary napkins. “The fabric has to be naturally made, absorbent, easily washable and quick-drying,” she said. She traveled to cloth-making villages on the outskirts of Hanoi in the hope of getting good enough fabric but the effort failed. Her mother, who has enthusiastically supported her, came to the daughter’s rescue by buying the material she needs and finding workers for the Green Lady Vietnam project. Ngoc’s decision to embark on the undertaking encountered dissuasion from a number of friends and people with knowledge of the menstrual napkin industry. “Many people told me cloth sanitary pads are a backward step away from modern life, as they cause inconvenience and would hardly sell well,” she recalled. She has remained undaunted although she was at times uncertain about whether expanding the project would generate any success. She found a way out by maintaining sanitary pad production while running courses on eco-friendly …
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