A flushable and biodegradable pregnancy test is now available

Image: Lia website

As people become more earth-conscious, we’re needing to find new ways of doing things.

Take the at-home pregnancy test, for example. Apparently these little plastic sticks create over 2 million tons of waste every year in the US alone.

“Sits in landfills for decades”

Setting out to reduce this number, Philadelphia based start-up Lia has been working on a plastic-free, flushable and biodegradable pregnancy that is now FDA- approved and available in the US. 

“We realised that there was really something to do about the temporality of the product,” co-founder Bethany Edwards told Forbes.

“If you think about it, a pregnancy test is only used for a few minutes but then sits in landfills for decades. So we decided to better match the product with its lifecycle.”

Bethany added, “We had to create something that temporarily mimicked the way plastic behaves without it being plastic.”

How they did it?

Made from natural, cellulose fibres, Lia will disintegrate in soil and dissolve in water. The diagnostic strip is protected from urine using a coating that will break down after use.

So how accurate is the Lia pregnancy test? The website says it’s 99% accurate, like most other tests on the market. 

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But that’s not all. Lia claims the pregnancy test can be flushed down the toilet after use. 

“Lia is made of the same natural, plant fibres as most toilet paper and weighs less than 4 squares of a leading 2-ply,” according to the website. 

While there isn’t any word on if this product is going to be made available in Australia, we’re sure it’s only a matter of time before we’re seeing Lia or something similar on Australian shelves. 

For more information, visit the Lia website.