Seldom has a product from the lion’s den been criticized as much online as “Pinky”. What the gloves are all about and why they represent an annoying step backwards.
It is said to be the solution to making your period life easier. On Monday evening, Eugen Raimkulow and André Ritters were on the show Lions’ den on Vox their product “Pinkys”. This is a pink disposable glove that menstruators can use to change and dispose of used disposable period products.
The Pinkys and the disposal should be clean, leak-proof and odorless. With the disposable glove you can remove the tampon, then turn the glove inside out, wrap the tampon in it and stick it with an integrated adhesive strip. A new glove should be used to insert the new tampon.
An expensive environmental burden
Each glove is individually packaged, supposedly fits into a cell phone case and can therefore be easily taken with you. Twelve of them are in a box and cost 2.99 euros, i.e. 25 cents each – not exactly cheap. Above all, the developers recommend using two gloves – for disposal and insertion. That would be 50 cents per change.
The Pinkys should be made of a plastic that would actually be recyclable. But: As soon as a used tampon is in the glove, it can no longer be recycled; it belongs in the residual waste.
So with the pink gloves comes together a lot of plastic waste that cannot even be recycled. With each change there are two gloves, each of which is still packed in a plastic bag.
The period is still taboo
The idea for the gloves came to the two founders when they were living in a shared apartment with several women. They shared a bathroom with them and had to “occasionally take a look in the trash can”. Every now and then they saw tampons wrapped in toilet paper.
“After a while it smells unpleasant and you can see it simply because the paper gets soaked through. It’s just pretty uncomfortable, “says Eugen Raimkulow on the show.
There has been harsh criticism of this argument on social media. Why do menstruators still have to hide their menstruation?
In response to the criticism, Raimkulow and Ritterswürden point out that they are not only interested in home use. Those who are on their period are also faced with the problem of disposing of tampons when they are out and about, for example when traveling, in the woods, at public toilets and at festivals.
The men celebrate, the women wave away
All five jurors examine the gloves in the show, put them on, take them off and wrap them up. While the lionesses reject the product with the words “… is not my thing” and “… is not my area”, two of the three men are enthusiastic about the idea and want to invest.
In the end, there is a deal between Ralf Dümmel and the two founders. Dümmel invests 30,000 euros for 20 percent of the company’s shares.
Utopia says: It’s nice that the period is once again a topic on television – and then by men too. But the product has little to do with removing taboos. Dispose of quickly and inconspicuously so that nobody is disturbed by the smell or appearance. Those times should really be over. Nor do we need another single-use product that produces even more plastic waste.
Read more on Techzle.com:
- Removing the menstrual cup: it’s easy and hygienic
- Sewing cloth bandages yourself – zero waste in menstruation
- Nutrition in the cycle: the right nutrition for every phase of the cycle
You might also be interested in these articles
-
Media library tip: Embrace – you are beautiful
-
Living more sustainably: The Utopia community recommends these films and series
-
Meat, coffee, chocolate: study calculates how much forest our consumption is destroying
-
Feminist Literature: You Should Read These 4 Feminist Books
-
Living consciously: 8 important questions that we should ask ourselves in everyday life
-
How to get through the new world of work with less stress
-
“More social attention in everyday life would make this world a better place”
-
Mindfulness to Zero Waste: 20 Podcasts on Sustainability and Green Living
-
Media literacy: So you have your cell phone under control and not your cell phone you