Australian start-up Hoopsy has created a recyclable pregnancy test that is 99% made out of paper, aiming to stop millions of single-use plastic versions ending up in landfill each year. Source: Timberbiz
The Hoopsy “eco pregnancy test” is made almost entirely out of paper, with cardboard packaging that can be recycled in domestic bins. Only the pouch the test comes in is made of soft plastic and needs to be recycled through supermarket collection.
The company aims for its products to replace plastic home pregnancy tests, 12.5 million of which it says are completed each year in the UK before being thrown in the bin.
Lara Solomon founded Hoopsy after going through IVF and embryo donation procedures that made her realise just how many times people who are trying to conceive test themselves.
She said she used “countless” pregnancy tests in the 14-day period following her embryo transfer. She then went on to develop the product, naming it after the Dutch word for “hope”.
“I feel that when you do a pregnancy test there is a lot of hope – a ‘hope I am’ or a ‘hope I’m not’!” Solomon told Dezeen. “Plus, it also has connotations with jumping through hoops in life, which is sometimes what trying for a baby feels like.
“On top of this, there’s hope for the future that this product can help reduce plastic waste.”
Hoopsy has been approved for sale by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regula-tory Agency following clinical trials that showed it was over 99% accurate from the day of a person’s expected period.
Hoopsy was developed entirely in-house by Ms Solomon and the manufacturer, but she hopes to work with an external design team for the second iteration of the product, which she aims to make from 100% paper.
“I’d love to see all plastic tests phased out eventually,” said Ms Solomon. “I think that the pregnant/not pregnant digital screen version instead of two lines is not necessary.
“The ‘number of weeks’ tests are more tricky to replicate in a non-plastic way, but I am confident we could look at a non-digital version as a way to stop that waste.”
