Since its launch in April, the wilko #ReclaimTheMask scheme has seen thousands of facemasks recycled – with estimates predicting a whopping 400,000 could be reclaimed by the time the project ends.
The scheme encouraging customers to recycle their masks has proved incredibly successful, with the 150 participating wilko stores up and down the country now extending the offering until the end of September. Shoppers can drop off their used single-use masks in the dedicated collection boxes in the participating wilko stores across the UK.
Once full, the boxes go to our ReWorked facility, who, together with Scan2Recycle, are partnered with wilko on the scheme.
Disposable masks are made primarily from polypropylene plastic; the additional metal nose clips & elastic ears make them a complicated item to recycle.
The PPE waste is quarantined for 72 hours before being sterilised & shredded. The shredded facemasks go to the board mill, where they are heated to 200C+ and pressed into solid sheets of recycled plastic.
These 100% recycled plastic boards are used as building materials, made into shelters, and some even become children’s furniture and donated to schools across the UK.
Schemes like #ReclaimTheMask are integral to prevent PPE waste from damaging our already fragile ecosystems further. We’re able to take this hard-to-recycle plastic and completely divert it from becoming pollution, landfills & incineration.
Izzie Glazzard, ReWorked Marketing Manager
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, PPE pollution has become more and more of an unexpected side effect for our planet to deal with. An estimated 8M tonnes of general plastic waste already ended up in the world’s oceans every year. And now, non-profit organisation Opération Mer Propre estimates there are more masks in the sea than jellyfish.
We know that our customers care about the environment, and this scheme has proved again to us just how much. We’re so delighted that it’s been such a success and that our customers and team members are helping to reduce litter in their communities, our partners are helping to recycle the waste and that we’re able to bring it all together in our stores. It’s a little win that truly makes a world of difference.
Jerome Saint-Marc, wilko CEO
For more information on disposable mask recycling at wilko and the 150 stores taking part, please visit www.wilko.com/face-mask-recycling.
Any questions or image requests, please contact marketing@reworked.com
About ReWorked
ReWorked is the innovative plastic recycling arm of MYGroup. They specialise in the recovery and remanufacture of plastic products from the retail and consumer industry and ocean plastic recovery; helping maintain a circular economy for plastic waste for brands and supporting the clean-up of the seas and oceans worldwide.
We will be taking the single-use facemask material from the wilko partnership and recycling it all back into shredded material for use in remanufacturing. Our in house processing will create a clean shredded plastic that is used in new products. Our onsite board manufacturing facility will also make bespoke items such as furniture, shop fitting and building materials.
About wilko
Wilko is a family business that started as a single hardware store back in 1930. For over 90 years, we’ve made the lives of families easier by providing them with simple, affordable and reliable ways to help them get their home and garden jobs done. Little wins, we call them.
We’ve successfully grown from a one-shop business to an Omnichannel retailer with over 400 stores. We’ve done this by listening to what our customers want – and then making sure we provide it. Whether it’s meeting the demands for DIY products in the 1950s, creating our first wilko brand range in the 1970s, launching online shopping in the 2000s or being first to sell 100% plastic-free wipes in 2020 – helping our customers get their jobs done and make the most of their homes and gardens, while at the same time making things a little bit better for our families, communities and the planet, has always been at the heart of what we do.
About Metrisk & Scan2Recycle
Metrisk Ltd developed Scan2Recycle to reward consumers who engage with recycling, creating positive change and a lasting shift in behavioural trends. Leveraging our partnership with ReWorked, a recycling powerhouse has been created, which delivers industry leading reporting and traceability, whilst importantly, 100% landfill diversion and zero incineration, ultimately helping to protect our planet for future generations. www.scan2recycle.com
