Exeter professor champions reusable PPE initiative

Exeter professor champions reusable PPE initiative

Sustainability experts from the University of Exeter Business School are working across the NHS in a drive to replace single-use PPE with more environmentally-friendly alternatives.

More than one billion single-use disposable masks were used by NHS workers last year, creating vast amounts of plastic waste and posing an ethical dilemma in which saving lives now has a harmful impact on the planet.

One recent study found that if every person in the UK used one single-use mask each day for a year it would create 66,000 tonnes of contaminated plastic waste – the equivalent weight of six Eiffel Towers.

His work has involved helping to design and develop a full ‘cradle-to-cradle’ life-cycle for their reusable PPE products.

Revolution-ZERO has been working with the NHS and specialists to run reusable PPE trials with hospitals, ambulance services and GP practices across the UK, which are now actively ramping up.

The PPE is made from the most appropriate material based on a variety of factors including environmental, social, economic impact and effectiveness, and manufactured using green energy to power operations (renewable sources from the sun, wind and water).

The reusable PPE, including masks, gowns, coveralls, aprons or caps, can be reprocessed 20-100 times.

And when the PPE reaches the end of its life-cycle it can be fully reused through either repurposing for other use cases or products or taken back through a full recycling process and manufactured into textiles.

Professor Hopkinson says the Revolution-ZERO concept is commercially viable and scalable.

Professor Hopkinson is due to talk about the initiative at the Global Research & Innovation in Plastics Sustainability conference this week, alongside Revolution-ZERO founder, Dr Tom Dawson.