Reclaim the Mask - A PPE recycling success story
- #ReclaimTheMask is the only fully integrated mask recycling system in the UK.
- Since launching in October 2020, the scheme has recycled over 8 million facemasks as a result.
- PPE recycling boxes have been launched in Wilko & Morrisons stores across the country.
- Brighton & Hove council launched facemask recycling bins in popular spots across the city.
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, MYGroup (www.mygroupltd.com) rose from the negatives to give a positive angle to a newly imposed waste problem…the single-use facemask - Offering a recycling solution boasting innovative technologies and the ability to recover 100% of the mask material.
Despite the issue seeming newly imposed, PPE was causing problems within the recycling industry pre-covid. MYGroup were tackling the issue, particularly within the manufacturing world, well before the pandemic caused a tidal wave of new single-use plastics to hit our streets.
The company began setting up collections and recycling single-use PPE, such as hairnets, beard shrouds, masks, coveralls, in 2016, mainly for companies in the food industry such as Betty & Taylor's of Harrogate.
During the initial months, estimates showed around 129 billion facemasks we're being used worldwide every month. Facemasks littered around our streets become commonplace. MYgroup's mission became to create viable recycling routes & schemes to help protect oceans, rivers, verges and wildlife - whilst also attempting to reduce the impact on a whole to waste outputs as a nation.
"PPE had long been an issue for recyclers - but we were startled by the sheer amount going to landfill, incineration and ending up as pollution as a result of the pandemic. We were shocked into action, and the #ReclaimTheMask PPE recycling scheme was born." - Izzie Glazzard, MYgroup.
The Reclaim The Mask scheme allows for all types of facemask, gloves, hairnets, and other PPE items to be recycled together without the need for separation.
After an initial quarantine period, the PPE is processed and moulded into an initial building product. The ReWorked (www.reworked.com) workshop then turns these into new products and long-life systems.
Products made can range from simple signage to full shop-fit and exhibition schemes, outdoor play equipment, garden products and seating, building systems and even into new moulded products, all in-house from problem to a new item.
The first items made from PPE were sanitiser bins, made to collect more! There's no better story for the waste - a truly circular, disruptive system for recycling.
About MYGroup
MYGroup is a group of recyclers specialising in championing innovative processes - our range of services is designed to improve our clients' environmental standing, diverting waste from landfills & reducing carbon footprints.
Recovering & remanufacturing hard-to-recycle waste, creating plastic, metal and textile works - Helping to maintain a circular economy for difficult waste often considered 'non-recyclable', even pursuing ocean waste for recovery. By collaborating with brands, they're supporting the clean-up of seas, oceans, and natural environments worldwide and reducing the UK's debris build-up.
mygroupltd.com
About ReWorked
ReWorked is the specialist sustainability arm of MYgroup - specialising in taking the trickiest waste streams and creating innovative recycling solutions.
ReWorked are known for their #ReclaimTheMask PPE recycling schemes in Morrisons & Wilko - and cosmetic take-back scheme with Boots.
www.reworked.com