UW professor shares greener alternative to everyday hygiene product materials

Tizazu Mekonnen, an associate professor and director of the department of chemical engineering at UW, has pioneered groundbreaking research that is changing the game for the materials used in everyday hygiene products, such as pads, tampons, and diapers.

In a market flooded with misinformation and cluttered product labels, it can often feel confusing and overwhelming to know which hygiene product brands are safe for your body and our environment. While current hygiene products use absorbent materials called polyacrylates, they can take up to 500 years to fully decompose. 

According to a 2011 study conducted by The College of Family Physicians of Canada, about 770,000,000 tampons are used by menstruating Canadians annually. While only one type of hygiene product, the mass environmental impact is evident.

Mekonnen, therefore, argued that the most logical alternative to current absorbent materials in hygiene products was to “design a material that serves for a short period of time and then degrade in the environment, leaving behind [a] benign byproduct,” which is where hydrogels come into the conversation.

Hydrogels are flexible polymers made to absorb and retain liquids, often used in hygiene products. However, what’s unique about Mekonnen’s approach is that his innovation is made of forestry residue and citric acid, replacing the traditional sodium polyacrylate polymers.

With ideation dating back to 2022, Mekonnen’s innovation now reduces environmental impacts by reusing materials sourced in Canada that decompose in just three months.

This research was supported by undergraduate students Dylan Sproule, Jessica Yohans, and Katie Leung; postdoctoral fellow Rohan Shorey; PhD student Fong Chenananporn; Dr. Evelyn Yim; laboratory experimentation led by Dr. Muhammad Shahidul Islam; and Arvind Gupta, a scientist at CTK Bio Inc.

Evelyn Yim, an associate professor in the same department, was a key player in testing the hydrogel materials against both synthetic urine and mouse cell growth. Yim ultimately found that the innovation was safe for everyday users.

With successful results from Yim’s testing, the team is next experimenting with the hydrogel material against real bodily fluids to ensure it maintains a fast absorption rate and material durability.

In addition to industry partners remaining optimistic about the widespread adoption of the materials, Mekonnen strives to make the products’ price points competitive with current brands, which is especially significant given the current period poverty crises in Canada.

According to the Government of Canada, in 2025, 20 per cent of the Canadian population who menstruate shared their fear of period product unaffordability, speaking to the ongoing inflation crisis. Similarly, while numerous UW students expressed feelings of shock and “guilt” upon discovering the current environmental footprint of hygiene products, they were transparent about “consider[ing] making the switch” to greener options “if affordable.”

With numerous published journal articles and an approved patent ready for commercialization, Mekonnen remains optimistic about the future ahead and “thank[s] the University of Waterloo, the faculty of engineering and [the] department of chemical engineering.”