Across many rural parts of South Africa, an often overlooked but growing environmental and public health crisis is brewing, requiring urgent attention. It is a crisis shaped by everyday necessities, limited services and difficult choices, and it centres on the disposal of disposable nappies and sanitary products, known collectively as Absorbent Hygiene Products, or AHPs.
A problem without a bin
In communities with irregular or no waste collection services, there are few safe or practical options for disposing of AHPs. With limited bins or skips to discard waste and no nearby landfill sites, used nappies and sanitary pads are frequently buried, burned, dumped in open spaces or end up in pit toilets and waterways. These products break down very slowly, releasing plastics, chemicals and pathogens that pollute soil and water systems. With rural villages relying on these resources for daily life, the conditions quickly become unsanitary.
This is not a problem caused by carelessness or lack of awareness. Research conducted by the University of the Western Cape, in partnership with the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, shows that many caregivers are deeply aware of the risks and challenges. Households already spend significant time and effort digging holes, carrying waste away from homes, or attempting to burn materials that do not burn easily. However, the issue is not rooted in behaviour, it is access.
The cost of necessity
In villages such as Phiring and Malaeneng, baseline research shows that families may spend between R200 and R500 per month on disposable nappies. In households where income is limited and often reliant on social grants, this is a substantial financial burden. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of used nappies accumulate daily in areas that form part of important water catchments. The baseline study shows that in Bushbuckridge and Maruleng, alone (190 700 households) an estimated 207 300 nappies are used per day.
The impacts are not always immediately visible, but at a scale such as this, they are compounding rapidly over time. Polluted soil, degraded wetlands and compromised water quality affect both human health and ecosystems, creating far-reaching and long-term risks that are far harder and more expensive to address later.
Solutions start with listening
It was within this context that Kruger to Canyons, together with UWC and local partners, began working with communities to understand not only how much AHP waste is being generated, but why existing options are so limited. Instead of arriving with pre-designed solutions, the Absorbent Hygiene Products Project was shaped through community workshops, household surveys and ongoing engagement led by trained, local fieldworkers.
What emerged challenged many common assumptions. While concerns around water use, comfort and stigma do exist, research showed that most households do have water access within their yards, that most caregivers do not believe reusable products are unhealthy, and that when waste services are absent, disposing of disposable nappies can require as much effort as washing reusable ones.
Perhaps most importantly, the research highlighted the role of public perception. Disposable nappies are often associated with modernity and progress, while cloth alternatives are seen as a sign of poverty or being “left behind”. Shifting these views cannot be done through instruction alone, it requires trust, peer learning and visible local leadership.
A practical, people-centred response
The AHP Project therefore takes a multi-pronged approach. Reusable nappies and sanitary pads have been introduced to some communities to significantly reduce waste entering the environment, while also lowering household costs over time. At the same time, local seamstresses are being supported to produce reusable sanitary pads, creating income opportunities and keeping production rooted in the community.
Eco-Savings and Credit Groups form a key part of the model. They provide the financial backbone so families can access starter packs of reusable cloth nappies through a revolving loan model. This allows mothers access to loans from the savings groups they are part of to buy the nappies and repay the value of the via monthly instalments, building responsibility and collective ownership rather than dependency. It also allows the scaling of the project to reach more households over time.
Governance that starts locally
This work is grounded in community governance systems, as shown in Kruger to Canyons documentaries Our Waste and Our Governance (available on https://www.youtube.com/@K2C.biosphere). Traditional leadership structures, savings group chairpersons and community forums play a central role in decision-making, accountability and feedback. Solutions are tested, adapted and refined through these structures, ensuring they respond to real conditions and needs on the ground, rather than abstract policy ideals.
From villages to national policy
What is happening in these communities is also shaping conversations at a national level. In 2025, the South African government drafted a revised National Waste Management Strategy that, for the first time, explicitly recognises AHPs as a material of concern. The strategy begins to acknowledge that one-size-fits-all waste systems designed for urban areas will not work everywhere.
Drawing on research and lived experience from rural and traditional authority areas, Kruger to Canyons has submitted feedback to the national AHP forum and will engage directly with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment emphasising that effective solutions must prioritise underserved areas, align with traditional governance structures and respect cultural sensitivities around dignity and disposal.
Importantly, the experience from Phiring and Malaeneng shows that when communities are included from the start, they are not passive recipients of policy, but essential contributors to what really works.
Seeing what is usually out of sight
While rooted in rural waste management, this story invites a broader reflection. It asks us to consider where waste goes when there is no service to collect it and how systems shape choices long before individuals do. It reminds us that environmental harm is not only about personal responsibility, but about access, infrastructure and dignity.
By supporting community-led solutions, grounding policy in real human experience and reflecting on our own consumption choices, we become part of a shared effort to protect water, health and livelihoods. The waste may be out of sight, but the solutions are already being built, shaped by the people who live with the consequences every day.
