Banana plants are harvested for fruit only once, leaving large trunks behind. Traditionally, these are left to rot or burned, adding to pollution and waste. Sparśa has turned this challenge into an opportunity: we partner with farmers in Susta municipality, Nepal, to collect trunks as raw material for our compostable pads. Through a simple agreement, farmers provide trunks free of charge, and in return, Sparśa removes the agro-waste from their plantations and trains farmers in making bio-compost from remaining residues. This improves soil fertility, reduces open burning, and creates cleaner plantations — while securing a steady flow of fibers for pad production.
This step demonstrates how an agricultural byproduct can be reintegrated into a value chain that benefits health, the environment, and livelihoods, while creating a replicable model for circular farming. The knowledge collected here is not limited to menstrual pads; the same sourcing and processing techniques can be adapted to produce other fiber-based products, such as textiles, packaging, or handicrafts, thereby broadening opportunities for local green industries in low- and middle-income countries.
The details of fiber sourcing, drying, and preparation will be presented in a dedicated PANORAMA solution on ‘Sustainable Fiber Processing’ (Scheduled to be published for November 2025). The next stage — how fibers are transformed into banana paper with machinery designed and built for our own factory — will be shared in PANORAMA solution ‘From Natural Fibre to Paper’ (also due November 2025). Together, these solutions document the earliest stages of Sparśa’s pad production process and make them open source for replication.
