AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Refugees and Migrants
KEYWORDS
refugees & immigrants , refugees, tampon, Menstruation, sustainable
COUNTRY
United Kingdom
DESIGNED BY
Kara Wong
WEBSITE
https://www.waveeedesign.com/work-1/looopcan
Looop Can
A cleaning kit for washing reusable mensuration pads, designed for refugees in waterscarce regions.
How does it work?
You add the used pad in. Then you add the baking soda stored inside the container and add water until the level where the packaging indicates. Screw the cap, immerse the screw container and spin to mix the baking soda and water. Wait at least 30 minutes until the period blood disintegrates, then use the container to scrub the bloodstain. Rinse and scrub for 3 times and one pad can be cleaned with just 500 ml of water.
Why is it needed?
There are about 26 million people who fled their countries due to conflict, violence, or war. Note that women suffer more vulnerabilities such as widespread gender-based violence and almost 60% of female refugees suffer period poverty problems as they rather spend their funding on food or sacrifice pads for baby diapers.
How does it improve life?
Most of the refugees come from strictly religious countries who see inserting tampons as taboo. Looop Can is a product that can protect fundamental human rights to water, sanitation, and health for refugees from 12 to 24 years old, who suffer language and culture barriers and have limited financial ability.
Instead of creating a completely new kit out of scratch, Looop Can uses recycled steel cans so that the washing container is easily replaceable. The pad’s design uses bamboo terry as the contact layer, bamboo fleece as the absorption layer and PUL as the leak proof layer as they are anti-odour, anti-bacterial and eco-friendly, which makes them less likely to cause skin allergies.