Can sanitary napkins be made biodegradable?
Mar 06, 2025
Traditional sanitary napkins are difficult to decompose in natural environments due to the presence of non degradable materials such as plastic, which can cause pollution to the environment. The emergence of biodegradable sanitary napkins has to some extent alleviated this problem. Degradable sanitary napkins are usually improved in terms of raw material selection and production processes:
Surface layer: The surface layer of biodegradable sanitary napkins is often made of natural plant fibers, such as pure cotton, bamboo fibers, and other biodegradable nonwoven fabric materials. These materials have good skin affinity, keeping the skin dry and biodegradable in natural environments.
Absorbent core: Some biodegradable sanitary napkins use biodegradable polymer absorbent resins or natural fibers such as wood pulp as the main raw material, and add some degradation promoting additives to the absorbent core. Natural fibers such as wood pulp can gradually decompose under the action of microorganisms, while biodegradable polymer water absorbing resins can also undergo degradation reactions in specific environments.
Backsheet layer: Degradable plastics such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBAT) may be used as the backsheet fillm material. These materials can decompose into harmless substances such as carbon dioxide and water within a certain period of time under specific conditions such as composting.
Production process: During the production process, companies that produce biodegradable sanitary napkins usually use some special processing techniques to ensure that these biodegradable materials can be effectively combined together while ensuring that the performance of the sanitary napkins is not affected. For example, using hot pressing technology instead of traditional chemical glue bonding reduces the use of chemicals and is also beneficial for product degradation.
Read More