Research into environmental impact of different forms of contraception

Hi all,

Hope you're well? I'm a freelance journalist who writes about health & wellbeing – with a special interest in how our health is connected to that of the planet.

I'm keen to explore the carbon footprint/overall environmental impact of different forms of contraception. Obviously, the NHS has the goal of getting to net zero and reducing the footprint of medicine-use is going to be a huge part of that. So given how many people use contracpetion and for how long (30+ years normally, according to stats I've seen) surely this must be a huge area for potential negative or positive impact?

I also think the public are increasingly keen to make greener choices about the things they use every day so I think if they could be informed about the impact of different contraceptives they would be keen to have this info.

However, having started to dig into it, I'm drawing a real blank on any data on the carbon footprint of different options or any research into their environmental impact.

The kind folks as CSH let me join your network so I could post a bit of a shout out here to find out if anyone knows of any research/useful leads in this area? 

I've also read mention of companies potentially developing more eco-friendly contraception – but again no real solid sources. Has anyone heard about this?

If anyone has any leads/info/thoughts they could share I'd really appreciate it. Obviously you can comment here or email me direct on jessicapowell.freelance@gmail.com. Even if you don't have any data on this but you think it's an interesting topic/one that needs more investigation/coverage I'd be keen to hear from you.

Thanks so much,

Jessica