Water hyacinth, often identified as one of the worst weeds to grow on water, has come of some use after three schoolchildren in Kerala found a whole new purpose for it. Guided by their Biology teacher, the three tenth graders in Malappuram, found a way to make plastic-free sanitary napkins out of them.
“The idea came when we were thinking of a project for the National Children’s Science Congress,” says the mentor and Biology teacher, Sarath KS. The children and their teacher belong to the AKMHSS School in Kottoor, Kottakkal. The competition required them to find a solution to a problem in their locality. And in Malappuram, water hyacinths float around in plenty, being the invasive species they are.
“It is of course not a problem limited to Malappuram or even Kerala, but everywhere across the world. We wondered what we could do with it, other than cleaning the plants up and converting them into handicraft objects,” Sarath says.
Students cut stems of water hyacinths for the napkin
When the three-member team - four including Sarath - thought of sanitary napkins, they knew it should be plastic free. The team – Henna Sumi PV, Aswathi E and Sreejesh S Warrier – with their mentor Sarath took the stems off the water hyacinths they plucked out, sterlised them and ground them into a pulp paper form. “The stems contain cellulose which is good for absorption,” Sarath says. And absorption is the primary function of a napkin.
On the top layer is cotton, and the bottom layer has bee wax coating. The stems go into the middle. “It is only a prototype development now. We did test it in a small group and it proved quite effective. But we will need a lab certification to commercially distribute it. Three years of research, lab tests and a patent,” says Sarath, talking of the future.
Two of the students and Sarath present the project to Minister Shailaja
They had submitted the invention to the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation and to Social Justice Minister KK Shailaja, after either winning or appearing in at least 10 science congresses/ competitions across the country. “We did win the senior category at the state level for the National Children’s Science Congress for which we thought up the idea. And after that at several competitions. We have also got the Young Innovative Programme 2018 scholarship under K-DISC (Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council)," he says.
The students - two girls and a boy - have now finished their tenth grade, and are going to Class XI this year, but the project will not be dropped. Talks are on with the KSWDC to begin research.