Tuesday 29 June 2021

Plastic-free PPE to fight pandemic and climate change

Fighting coronavirus and climate change simultaneously could be a possibility.

That is because a Lancashire-based company has developed face visors, which it claims are entirely paper-based and meet UK PPE demand without a high carbon footprint.

The PPECO product has been studied by Lancaster University, with findings showing the visors produce 85% less carbon than the popular alternatives.

The shield is made from cellulose diacetate, a wood pulp-based material and the visors have a corrugated frame.

Founder Richard Taylor said: “My background is industrial design consulting and packaging and it was from my business connections and experience that I saw the opportunity to create a visor that was not reliant on plastic.

“I then talked with suppliers and companies I’ve worked with previously and they were keen to get on board.

“We developed what we felt was an environmentally-friendly face visor for a number of reasons - one it has no plastic in it and two it’s also made from recyclable, eco-friendly materials. We were keen to prove the low environmental footprint with facts and figures.”