Cornwall social enterprise Waterhaul is leading the \u2018Retask the Mask\u2019 campaign to combat the environmental impact and has chosen Earth Day (April 22) to begin the initiative.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Statistics reveal 58 million masks are used a day in the UK, making them one of the most common forms of plastic pollution, with an estimated 1.5 billion masks already entering the ocean.<\/p>\n
As mask usage is still required as a preventative measure in the spread of Covid-19, these figures are expected to grow, causing lasting damage, says Waterhaul.<\/p>\n
Waterhaul, which specialises in recycling plastic waste and fishing nets from the ocean into functional products, has trialled the project with Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, which will also save the NHS from having to pay \u00a3550 per ton to incinerate the masks<\/p>\n
Instead, Waterhaul will pay for each plastic block, created by the hospital from melting down the masks using a dedicated onsite machine. Waterhaul will use these plastic blocks to create litter pickers. Full-scale manufacturing of the recycled litter picker will be done in the UK and is set to begin in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new wave of plastic PPE pollution is a very real threat,\u201d said Harry Dennis, CEO at Waterhaul.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic news for our staff, patients and visitors to know that we can create a positive outcome from our waste \u2013 and that it will go on to make even further positive impact in the form of litter pickers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re aiming to turn this problem into part of the solution. By working with the NHS Trust, we can intercept this plastic at the source before it heads to landfill and create a useful product that will enable us to collectively tackle the masks which have already escaped into the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roz Davies, general manager at The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, added: \u201cThe Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been clear that its vision is to create a circular economy and tackle the growing challenges of single use PPE.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic news for our staff, patients and visitors to know that we can create a positive outcome from our waste \u2013 and that it will go on to make even further positive impact in the form of litter pickers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waterhaul is aiming to be part of a wider waste solution. They are launching \u2018Retask the Mask\u2019 to coincide with Earth Day to raise awareness of the extreme levels of face mask pollution, and the potential harm they can cause to the environment when discarded.<\/p>\n
Their aim is to inspire an environmental clean-up, globally and closer to home, by encouraging people to join in with their campaign.<\/p>\n
Dennis added: \u201cStudies have found that being in nature whilst taking positive action to protect it can deliver significant mental wellbeing benefits. This is so relevant at the moment, and as we move towards brighter prospects this Spring, we\u2019re aiming to incorporate the \u2018do good, feel good\u2019 effect into the daily walks and exercise that have got us through lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/www.circularonline.co.uk\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cornwall social enterprise Waterhaul is leading the \u2018Retask the Mask\u2019 campaign to combat the environmental impact and has chosen Earth Day (April 22) to begin the initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2282,"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281\/revisions\/2282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esquare.co.th\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}