A local solution to combat period poverty

Enlarge / Sisal East A invasive species that East Also grown up agriculturally. Chris Hellier

Women And girls through a lot of THE development world lack to access has menstrual some products. This means that For has less A week Or SO each month, a lot girls don't do it go has school, SO they autumn behind pedagogically And often Never catch up economically.

A lot conventional menstrual some products to have traditionally has been do of hydrogels do Since toxic petrochemicals, SO there has has been A push has TO DO them out of biomaterials. But This generally means cellulose Since drink, which East In high request For other purposes And is not it easily available In a lot rooms of THE world. SO Alex Odundo find A path has solve both of these problems: manufacturing max tampons out of sisal, A drought resistant agave factory that grows easily In semi-arid climates as her native Kenya.

Putting A invasive species has work

Sisal East A invasive factory In rural Kenya, Or he East often plant as cattle fencing And raw material. He doesn't require fertilizer, And It is leaves can be harvest all year long on A five- has seven years scope. Odundo And her the partners In Manu Prakash laboratory has Stanford University developed A process has generate soft, absorbent material Since THE sisal leaves. He rests on treatment with dilute peroxyform acid (1 percent) has increase It is porosity, follow up by washing In sodium hydroxide (4 percent) And SO spinning In A table top blender has improve porosity And TO DO he softer.

They tested their fibers with A blend of water mixed with glycerol - for TO DO he thicker, as blood - and find that he East as absorbent as THE cotton used In commercially available max tampons. He was Also as absorbent as drink pulp And more absorbent that fibers prepared Since other biomaterials, including hemp And linen. Moreover, their process East less energy consuming that conventional treatment procedures, which are typically carried out has upper temperatures And pressures.

In A from cradle to door carbon footprint life ride a bike analysis, including sisal cultivation, harvest, manufacturing, And transportation, sisal cellulose microfiber production successful roughly THE even as production of cellulose microfiber Since drink And a lot better that that Since cotton In terms of both carbon footprint And water consumption, maybe because cotton requires SO a lot upstream fertilizer. A lot of THE footprint come Since transportation, highlighting how useful he can be has TO DO some products as This In THE even communities that need them.

Science For THE bigger GOOD

This East not That of Odundo First of all incursion In using sisal; has Alex Techno Businesses In Kisumu, Kenya, he has has been manufacturing Machinery has turn sisal leaves In rope For on ten years. This benefits local Farmers Since sisal rope And even sisal fibers sell For ten times as a lot as sisal leaves. In addition has manufacturing max tampons, Odundo Also built A stove that burns sawdust, rice the shells, And other biodegradable waste some products.

By reduce drink frying pans, he East reduce Deforestation And improvement THE health of THE women WHO breathe In THE smoke of THE kitchen fires. Adoption of such frying pans to have has been A aim of environmentalists For years, And although A number of prototypes to have has been developed by Above all male engineers In developed countries, they to have not has been widely used because they are not that practical Or attractive has THE Above all female cooks In development countries - the people WHO In fact need has cook with them, Again were not consulted In their design.

Manu Prakash the laboratory website proclaim that "We are dedicated towards invent And distribute 'frugal science' tools has democratize to access has science." Partnership with Alex Odundo has manufacturing menstrual some products In THE low income rural communities that most need them seems as THE apotheosis of that objective.

Communications Engineering, 2023. DO I: ...