← Back Published on

When are we going to shift to eco-friendly PPE?

After 11 months into the pandemic and £15 billion invested for PPE, the government and educational institutions have had difficulty shifting to more eco-friendly PPE. The use of single-use PPE and incorrect disposal have led to 53.3 million facemasks being sent to landfills in the UK each day in November.

The Health, Safety and Sustainability Team in the University of Hertfordshire reported having purchased, for semester A, 45,200 items of PPE for the Health and Social Work School and 36,650 items of PPE for the Life and Medical Sciences School.

The students in these schools have revealed that the university provided a different set of PPEs regularly for classes even if the students brought their own reusable PPE. “We have to change from our mask into a university disposable mask, a plastic apron and plastic gloves which we dispose of at the end of the day,” said Mathangi, a physiotherapy student.

Though many alternatives are available such as biodegradable gloves that can degrade in 2 years and reusable gowns and visors, there has not been a proper push to switch to them. “Radiographers disinfect the patient bed, detector, visors and machines with chlor-clean so I never understood why we could not do the same with our aprons and gloves,” Inaya, a radiography student doing placement acknowledged.

Battelle, a global research organization, developed Critical Care Decontamination Systems which can decontaminate up to 80,000 masks per day at full capacity. “Instead of using and disposing of PPE regularly, just collecting everything in one place and disinfecting them could help in contributing to lesser environmental damage,” Neel Raj Vaidya, the Social Media Manager of the Green Movement Society indicated.

While the funds required to switch to eco-friendly PPE is one of the main concerns debated, most of them, for example, like the Reel shield flip, are sold for the same price as its plastic alternatives. Though the contract for the decontamination systems amounts to £296 million for 60 systems including other services, it helps save up on the purchase of single-use PPE regularly.

In comparison to the costs for eco-friendly alternatives, the carbon footprint of PPE supplied to all health and social care services in England in 6 months amounted up to 106,478 tonnes CO2e which is equivalent to 26,662 times that of an average person. Its impact on ecosystems has been 0.47 species per year and resource depletion amounted to £ 9.5 million, equivalent to 907 times a person’s average over the same period.

The environment impact of PPE requires careful consideration by the government and other institutions to plan to shift to sustainable alternatives and optimising waste management.