Eco-friendly Sanitary Products Made of Jellyfish
Published on by Marina A, Previously Key Account and Content Manager at AquaSPE AG in Business
An Israeli startup is making sanitary products out of a super-absorbent material made of jellyfish flesh.
Non-flushable products do not dissolve and are the cause of a vast number of blockages in the sewage. Huge amounts of money are spent on cleaning the sewage pipes and this can easily be avoided.
Flushing products that are not meant to be flushed also endanger the environment with plastics and could even have effect on the human food chain.
Therefore, the UK companies insisted on ‘do not flush’ warnings on wet wipes. They insisted on clearly marked warnings on the products to avoid confusion and make people stop flushing bathroom products that could potentially harm the environment.
On the other hand, a startup company came up with the idea to make eco-friendly sanitary products from a material made of jellyfish.
Choosing jellyfish is an obvious solution since they are growing in numbers and threatening the underwater infrastructure.
Rising ocean temperatures and pollution affect acidity in the oceans and this allows jellyfish to multiply much faster.
Shachar Richter, a material scientist at the University of Tel Aviv, has been studying jellyfish for a few years. He discovered excellent absorption properties of the jellyfish flesh. Richter developed hydromash, a super-absorbent material that can absorb large quantities of blood and water.
Chine’al, an Israeli company he founded, is now using hydromash to make biodegradable diapers and female hygiene products.
A typical disposable diaper may take up to 100 years to dissolve while this material needs less than 30 days to biodegrade.
Hydromash is produced by breaking down the jellyfish flesh and adding antibacterial nanoparticles that remove the sting. The result is a strong, flexible, fully biodegradable material.
Despite some jellyfish being poisonous, they are made of 90% water. This makes them usable in sanitary products, medical bandages and sponges.
Chine’al expects the products to be on the market in the next 18 months.
These products may revolutionize the market and bring great benefit to the environment.
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