DISPO
Brief
Purpose and scope of the project
The demand for sustainable products is high and rising as well as plastic pollution.
Since the pandemic hits, the world has faced an otrageous increase in the production of disposable objects, and then, their waste. Everything happened fast and people did not consider the repercussion of waste mismanagement of these items. They ended up in the street, in the land, in the soil and especially in the ocean.
The scope of this project is to recycle disposable articles so they will not create more plastic pollutions that the globe already has.
To save lives and protect themselves, medical staff is the first consumer of disposable items. This is also because they can not use reusable PPE as normal people. So the majority of single-use PPE is utilised inside the hospitals.
The purpose is to create a circular business around surgical masks from these structures, collect them, create a new material, give them a new life under a new shape to avoid waste mismanagement and more single-use plastic pollution.
Personal Experience
The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis that affects everyone. Various articles have been published in the past weeks on the environmental causes and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In particular there has been a massive surge in production of face masks, protective suits, aprons, water bottles, visors, take-away food containers, pre-packaged produce, and home deliveries wrapped in single-use plastic bags.
Consumers and restaurants have become more dependent on single-use plastic bags, containers and utensils due to health concerns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
For the second summer in a row, this year I worked at an italian beach restourant where I have seen a massive increase of take-away food, disposable cutlery and condiments. Each shift I was using one or two face masks, depends on how hot it was or how many bookings we had. I tried using a reusable masks but I could not breath properly.
From then started investigating more about the safety of disposable and reusable objects and the difference between them.
Disposable products are not inherently safer than reusables.
Recent studies have shown the virus can remain active on plastics from two to six days, and that household disinfectants have been proven effective at disinfecting hard surfaces, such as reusables. The best practices urged by health experts include complying with food safety/health codes for sanitising, using additional hygienic practices during the pandemic, utilising contact-free systems, and ensuring that workers are adequately protected.
More than 125 health experts have signed a statement on the safety of reusables during the Covid-19 pandemic. They emphasised that reusables can be safely used by employing basic hygiene.
Demographic Insight
"How People's Behaviours Changed during the Pandemic" was the initial theme of the project.
The next step has been tracking changes over time in people’s attitudes, opinions and behaviors about plastic, in particular single-use plastics with a digital survey.
SoGoSurvey, an online software, was used to create the survey giving me the possibility to share it on different platforms while tracking data for each of them. The questionairre has been shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, Whatsapp and Instagram, in diverse groups like "SCAD Designers for Sustainability", "SDA - Edinburgh University Sustainable Development Association", "Edinburgh Napier Sustainable Society", my coursemate, my friends and my family to reach as many different experience as possible.
INSIGHT FROM THE SURVEY
The survey helped me to understand who people think is resposible for limited sustainability of their country, where should I focused for my design criteria (time consuming, cost, collective action and support in the comunity). Most importantly, this survey shows how the situation has turned around. Before the pandemic, people where trying to follow sustainable bases in general shopping and in the trasportation (buying goods and services, food and nutrition, transport and mobility). Instead during the pandemic, these sectors are the ones increased more against sustainability (shopping online, disposable bags and face masks, take-away and food delivery).
ONLINE WORKSHOP
To understand better the role of recycling in our society and have a direct contact with partecipants, I run an online workshop between my coursemates.
During the workshop we talked about single plastic pollution, reviewed the survey, and I asked them a few question about percentages of recycling around the world and regarding objects.
INSHIGHT FROM THE WORKSHOP
Noone was properly informed about plastic pollution, they may have an idea but it was always too positive.
More informed about initiatives for recycling all over the world like "Recycling and waste management in the Netherlands", or "Brussels is first Belgian city to ban single-use plastic at public events". Digital insights were gained as well, for example "The Good Fish Guide App", "TooGoodToGo App" and "The Hello Fresh App".
DISTRIBUTION OF PPE AROUND THE WORLD
Thanks to the workshop and the survey, I realized that since the pandemic began people started using more and more disposable objects to protect themselves.
Demand for PPEs has reached unprecedented levels as COVID-19 has spread globally and governments have sought to prepare and respond. In the first four months of 2020, the UN have delivered over 6.4 million gloves, 1.8 million surgical masks, and 1 million gowns to countries across the world.
The world map shows how much PPE has been used for each continent since the beginning of the pandemic.
USAGE OF PPE FOR ONE WORKER
Every month, frontline health workers around the world
need supplies to protect themselves and other from COVID-19.
89 MILLION
MASKS
1.59 MILLION
GOOGLES
30 MILLION
GOWNS
76 MILLION
GLOVES
Source : WHO
UK Government PPE supply
In 7 days to 18th October
Total : 72 million PPE items for use by health and social care services in England
on a 53 days period : 10.3 million items per day
29 MILLION
MASKS
24 MILLION
GOOGLES
292 THOUSAND
GOWNS
111 MILLION
GLOVES
Source : DHSC
Surgical Face Mask Properties
As the reports shown, face masks are the most used equipement for health workers and not, during the pandemic.
Surgical mask 3-Ply is the common face mask. It provides a physical barrier to dust, dirt, debris, smoke, powder and germs.
Multi-layer design blocks air pollution to protect the user. The inner and outer layer are made of non-woven fabric, aslo the outer layer is waterproof to effectivily isolate saliva. The middle layer acts as the filter that stops microbes from entering or exiting the mask. It is a melt-blown polymer, commonly polypropylene.
Nose bar adaptable: folds expand to offer full coverage over nose and mouth. Nose piece along top of mask allow for a custom fit.
Single Mask Dimensions: (6.7 x 3.5)” / (17 x 9)cm (Not Including Earloops) ( Varies as per the available stock)
Weight (50pcs): 4.9oz / 139g
No glass fibers, hypoallergenic
LIFE CYCLE OF A FACE MASKS
The figure illustrates the case of a face mask produced by Medicom, Inc., PPE manufacturer based in Canada with offices in the United States, Netherlands (European arms), and Hong Kong (Asian arm).
Suppliers for raw materials are in France and nearby European countries
Manufacturers are in France; Taipei, China; and the United States. The factory in France typically makes around half a billion orders.
Distributors are in Canada; Taipei, China; Ukraine; and in the United States.
Source: Asian Development Bank based on Alderman (2020), Feng and Cheng (2020), Hufford and Evans (2020).
Contamination is one of the biggest challenges we face, and we are now seeing many disposable face masks coming through our facility every day. More than 100 million disposable masks are binned in the UK every week - enough to cover the pitch at Wembley Stadium 232 times over.
Face mask littering has become a common sight during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 45% of those surveyed feeling angry when they see masks littered on the ground.
Many masks go uncollected, discarded on beaches, high streets, canals and rivers.
"The progress we have all made in reducing our reliance on single-use plastics is at risk of being undone during the pandemic, and disposable facemasks are a major culprit."
"They are not made of paper, they are not recyclable and whether they are binned or littered they will damage the environment."
Cllr Clyde Loakes,
NLWA chair
Who would have thought that the waste of pandemic could be transformed into opportunities?
PLAXTIL
Contrary to what has been thought, a French start-up company recycles used face masks to make plastic objects.
The masks are first put on quarantine for four days, then cut into small pieces, grinded, disinfected by UV rays for almost 30 seconds, and mixed to a substance that binds the fabric to allow the production of plastic items.
PLAXTIL is the name of the new material and it can be used in industry and moulded like a normal material.
Since July, the company managed to recycle 50,000 masks to produce 3,000 objects.