Vyld: Blowing Tampons Out of the Water

What if we told you that pretty soon, we’ll all be able to use tampons that actually benefit the ocean and people at the same time? Believe it or not – it’s happening! Enter the Kelpon – a tampon made from nature’s most powerful decarbonization tool: seaweed. 

Although forests are known as the best natural source for carbon capture, studies show that seaweed is by far the most efficient natural way of absorbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Kelp, a large, brown seaweed typically found in cold, coastal waters grows up to 61 cm (2 ft) per day and like land-based plants, absorbs CO2 through photosynthesis – but at 50 times the rate. As if that’s not enough, seaweed contributes to ocean habitat restoration, and is a useful tool in reversing acidification caused by rising ocean temperatures. 

Sounds great, right? Well, there’s a catch – but it can work to our benefit. Unless harvested or sunken to the depths of the ocean, the carbon captured by the seaweed will re-enter the atmosphere as it rots. To reap the benefits of farming seaweed, it must be harvested, generating lots of useful raw material that can be transformed into product. Several remarkable seaweed-based innovations that use this product are now coming to market and one of our favourites is the kelpon by Vyld. Before we talk about the company, let’s discuss the opportunity.

People who menstruate do not have an abundance of choice when it comes to sustainable products. A person who menstruates uses on average between 5,000 and 15,000 disposable menstrual products in their lifetime. In the US alone, this means that around 12 billion pads and 7 billion tampons are thrown away each year. Generally containing plastics, each one of these items (wrappings and applicators included) takes between 500 to 800 years to decompose.  Best case, these plastics end up in landfill, but unfortunately and far too often, tampons and applicators are flushed down the toilet. When sewer systems fail, these plastics end up in the ocean, harming ecosystems and causing health complications or death to the animals that eat them. Even though the effects of menstrual product waste is prominent, the real environmental impact comes from the processing of raw materials that go into their production. 

With the kelpon, all these aspects are avoided, and menstruating people can’t wait. According to a survey by National Geographic, close to 60 % of menstruators asked were open to switching to a more sustainable menstrual product, with another 20 % having already taken the leap. This is a massive shift in the way people are thinking about dealing with their periods.