{"id":43030,"date":"2017-05-22T07:29:28","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T05:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=43030"},"modified":"2017-05-19T13:15:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T11:15:58","slug":"a-better-sustainable-sanitary-pad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/a-better-sustainable-sanitary-pad\/","title":{"rendered":"A better sustainable sanitary pad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each year, nearly 20 billion sanitary pads, tampons and applicators are dumped into North American landfills every year, and it takes centuries for them to biodegrade inside plastic bags, according to a 2016 Harvard Business School report. Additionally, it requires high amounts of fossil fuel energy to produce the plastic for these products, resulting in a large carbon footprint.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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University of Utah materials science and engineering student Amber Barron (left) and materials science and engineering assistantprofessor (lecturer) Jeff Bates are part of a team that has developed a new, 100-percent biodegradable feminine maxi pad that is made of all natural materials and is much thinner and more comfortable than other similar products. In front of them is a series of materials they have experimented with, including cotton, to make the finished maxi pad (far left on the table). (Photo Credit: Dan Hixson\/University of Utah College of Engineering)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But a team of students led by University of Utah materials science and engineering assistant professor (lecturer) Jeff Bates has developed a new, 100-percent biodegradable feminine maxi pad that is made of all natural materials and is much thinner and more comfortable than other similar products.<\/p>\n

The SHERO Pad uses a processed form of algae as its super-absorbent ingredient, which is then covered with cotton and the same material that makes up tea bags. The result is a maxi pad that is effective, comfortable to wear and can break down anywhere from 45 days to six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is novel in comparison to other biodegradable options out there for pads,\u201d said Amber Barron, a University of Utah junior in materials science and engineering who is on the team of four students. \u201cMost are really bulky because they don\u2019t have a superabsorbent layer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The need for something like the SHERO Pad originally came from SHEVA, a nonprofit advocacy group for women and girls in Guatemala, which turned to Bates because it was looking for a sustainable solution for feminine hygiene waste. One of Bates\u2019 area of research is in hydrogels, which are water-absorbing polymers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Guatemala, there\u2019s no public sanitation system. All the rivers are black because they are so polluted,\u201d Bates says. \u201cSo there really is a genuine need for people in Guatemala to have biodegradable options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of Bates\u2019 solution came one night while feeding his 5-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day we were eating dinner with white rice, and my daughter spilled it all over the floor,\u201d he says about that night two years ago. \u201cThe next morning, when I was cleaning it up, it was all dry and crusted. I drove to work and thought, \u2018What was it about rice that does that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That question of how rice hydrates and dehydrates began a two-year process of searching for the right natural materials for the feminine pad, which included testing with different leaves, such as banana leaves, and forms of cotton.<\/p>\n

Bates, Barron and the rest of the team \u2014 which includes sophomore students, Sarai Patterson, Ashlea Patterson and Ali Dibble \u2014 ultimately developed the SHERO Pad, which is made up of four layers: An outer layer of raw cotton similar to a tea bag to repel liquid, a transfer layer of organic cotton to absorb the liquid and pull it from the outer layer, the super-absorbent layer made of agarose gel (a polymer from brown algae), and a final layer made of a corn-based material that keeps the moisture inside and prevents leakage.<\/p>\n

While there are other similar sustainable feminine pads on the market today, they either use a hydrogel that is not 100 percent biodegradable or they use thicker layers of natural cotton that are uncomfortable to wear, Barron says. Another advantage to the SHERO Pad is that it can easily be manufactured in smaller villages using locally sourced materials and without sophisticated tools, just common presses and grinding stones, Bates says.<\/p>\n

While the team originally developed the SHERO Pad for users in developing countries such as Guatemala, Bates and the students also will start selling the product in the U.S. for environmentally conscious women. A working prototype has been produced, and they have launched a startup company based in Bountiful, Utah. They hope to have products in Guatemala and on U.S. store shelves within a year.<\/p>\n

The SHERO pad is featured as one of three University of Utah capstone projects in this video (relevant portions begin at 0:55 and 2:03): https:\/\/vimeo.com\/umcvideo\/review\/206496091\/9d7a0b9e30<\/a><\/p>\n

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The SHERO Pad, developed by a team of University of Utah materials science and engineering students, is a new feminine hygiene pad that is 100 percent biodegradable and made from all natural materials. It consists of four layers and can break down in as little as 45 days. (Photo Credit: Ashlea Patterson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year, nearly 20 billion sanitary pads, tampons and applicators are dumped into North American landfills every year, and it takes centuries for them to biodegrade inside plastic bags, according to a 2016 Harvard Business School report. Additionally, it requires high amounts of fossil fuel energy to produce the plastic for these products, resulting in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,13064],"supplier":[13400],"class_list":["post-43030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-personalcare","supplier-university-of-utah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43030"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=43030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}