During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic – where only doom and gloom was assured each day – a company rose from the negative to provide a positive solution for a newly imposed waste problem……THE DISPOSABLE FACE MASK!
Although we say newly imposed, this has been an issue within the pre-COVID-19 day-to-day manufacturing world for a considerable time, and something MYGroup have been tackling well before a worldwide pandemic caused a tidal wave of the new single-use blight.
We began setting up collections and recycling for single-use PPE, such as hairnets, beard shrouds, masks, coveralls etc. in 2016, predominately for food industry businesses such as Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate, where daily single-use PPE is mandatory. So, we were certainly not new to this; the whole system needs to be looked at on a bespoke basis, customer by customer, and our long-established waste management and recycling background enables us to create and manage these systems end-to-end, from audit to collection to final recycling.
When the pandemic first hit, the last thing on people’s minds – including ours – was PPE and innovation; our priorities turned to our families, friends and loved ones. But as we operate in the recycling industry, we had to remain open to service waste systems within the UK. During these initial months, we turned our minds to the issues that would be starting to arise from the global situation and quickly realised that PPE would need to be dealt with – if we were to protect our oceans, rivers, verges and wildlife – while also attempting to reduce the overall impact to our waste output as a nation.
Our systems allowed us to build a collection, storage and containment system, pre-processing, sanitisation and final product creation all in-house and at one single site. No other scheme in the UK – or indeed worldwide – can offer these fully circular, in-house routes for PPE; the ‘Reclaim the Mask’ system was born.
Unlike other systems, we do not need any pre-processing by the consumer or client, so nose guards and ear elastics etc. can stay on. We also don’t refuse or reject certain masks; all disposable masks are accepted, providing a full and open service for disposal, removing the burden from the consumer.
Once we have collected and quarantined the material, it’s moved to our plastics facility where we process all the material and then mould into an initial building product; our workshop then turns these into new products and long-life systems, all with an onward recycling route through us. Nothing is left out or separated other than the metal, all the PPE is used.
We are often asked about the clinical background and producers of PPE; when we set up ‘Reclaim the Mask’, it was designed to handle the new wave of materials that the public would have to encounter, not to tackle an existing and well-established system like the NHS. But we have also responded to this and are now able to offer a small autoclave system that can be provided to any healthcare-based operation, set up as a permanent fixture for the on-site sanitation of waste, prior to our agreed collections and full recycling. This is also not just limited to PPE, we aim to target a lot more clinical waste – the single use plastics from these backgrounds – such as sharps, syringes etc., which can be disposed of mixed, and recycled by us without any pre-processing by the client.
Our main plastics facility has also installed a larger autoclave system on-site to run under a full clinical permit, meaning we can directly take clinical waste for processing, if the option of source-sanitation is not viable.
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 new item.
The first items we made were sanitiser bins, a bin from the PPE it collects in return! There’s no better story for the waste. Our quick reaction and disruptive thinking allowed us to act and make an immediate impact in these challenging times.
MYGroup is the new face of Mytum & Selby Waste Recycling Ltd, a brand we feel reflects the size and capability of our company without losing our roots, our ethos, or our ingenuity and passion for recycling your waste.
With over 30 years industry experience and four state-of-the-art sites handling over 750,000 tons of waste per year, MYGroup are one of the few waste management companies in the country who can offer true total waste management without the need to pass any of your waste on – or broker it out – giving you true peace of mind every step of the way.
For further information, please contact marketing@mygroupltd.com
