Kaye Toland

LifeCycle, BA Product Design, Unilever Sustain-Ability Winner, 2017

A socially, economically and ecologically sustainable menstruation management service. Providing products and a service that are healthy for people, the planet and the pocket!

MCycle delivers, by cargo bicycle, a box each month before your cycle starts, guided by a menstrual tracking app. Inside, it has a compostable, water resistant and antibacterial sack which contains compostable tampons and pads which can be emptied into your preferred place. Once empty, you seal the sack and place it back inside the exterior box. The entire package then becomes the bin for the tampons and pads. It can be mounted on your bathroom wall or kept in a cupboard depending on your needs. Once your cycle ends we pick up the package. It is then taken to a waste storage facility and at the end of the day taken to EcoPark in north London where the package is separated. The internal sack and its contents are composted into non-food soil for prison parks, playgrounds and football fields and the external cardboard box is recycled. A complete circular economy.

The company is a co-operative and benefits are threefold. Firstly, the product gets cheaper over time. Secondly, as a user, you become a shareholder and get a share of the profits at the end of the financial year. You can become an ‘MCycle lifer’ where these profits are saved and returned to you when you reach menopause, like a period retirement fund. Thirdly, you will be prompted to vote on any changes to the company and can suggest ideas. This will also create an online network where users can share stories and support one another. This is extremely important as menstruation being a taboo means some people find themselves with no support system to talk about their bodies in a healthy way.

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