SABIC is Working to Close the Loop on Recycling for Single Use Face Masks
Ever since the COVID-19 crisis hit the global stage, mask wearing has gone from something only a relative few countries engaged in on a regular basis, to a common sight in all public places from the UK to Australia.
Because the SARS-COV-2 virus is transmitted through water droplets expelled from the nose or mouth, wearing a mask can help slow the spread of infections by catching the larger of these droplets inside the material.
However, there is a downside to the uptick in mask wearing and that is a sympathetic increase in the number of these items being discarded. Many people opt for the additional hygiene and protection of disposable medical grade masks rather than washable and reusable ones which means they have to be disposed of – something which is becoming an increasingly grave concern for environmental campaigners.
Disposable Masks
At first glance these masks may seem like innocuous pieces of fabric, but the truth is they actually contain microplastics which, as we all know by now, are incredibly harmful to the environment and notoriously difficult to dispose of effectively.
Disposable masks can contain dangerous chemical pollutants and tiny plastic fibres and particles that can accumulate in the food chain and find their way into our precious oceans.
Research by the University of Portsmouth in the UK amassed data from citizens who recorded the litter they were collecting on an app called Litterati, and the results for 2021 were shocking. There was a nearly 9,000% leap in global mask litter during the period, with the UK being the worst offender. It’s unsurprising that these leaps coincided with the introduction of mask mandates in various countries, but this study represents the first-time real data has been collected on the subject.
“Due to COVID-19, use of billions of disposable facemasks is raising environmental concerns especially when they are thoughtlessly discarded in public spaces, including - parks, open-air venues and beaches,” said SABIC in a press release. “Apart from the challenge of dealing with such huge volumes of essential personal healthcare items in a sustainable way, simply throwing the used masks away for disposal on landfill sites or in incineration plants represents a loss of valuable feedstock for new material.”
SABIC
The growing scale of this problem has led Saudi Arabian multinational chemical manufacturing company, SABIC to partner with Proctor & Gamble and the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE and its Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy, to combine their logistics prowess and create a closed-loop recycling pilot project for single-use face masks.
“Recognizing the challenge, we set out to explore how used facemasks could potentially be returned into the value chain of new facemask production,” said Director of R&D Open Innovation at P&G, Dr. Peter Dziezok. “But creating a true circular solution from both a sustainable and an economically feasible perspective takes partners. Therefore, we teamed up with Fraunhofer CCPE and Fraunhofer UMSICHT’s expert scientists and SABIC’s T&I specialists to investigate potential solutions.”
During the pilot, P&G set up special collection bins at its manufacturing and research sites in Germany to collect masks worn by both employees and visitors.
The collected masks were then transported to Fraunhofer where they were shredded before being thermochemically converted to pyrolysis oil – pyrolysis breaks the plastic down into molecular fragments under pressure and heat, which has the added benefit of destroying any residual pollutants or pathogens, such as the coronavirus.
The pyrolysis oil is then sent on to SABIC where it is used as feedstock in the production of new PP resin and, finally, to close the loop, the completed resin was supplied to P&G, where it was processed into non-woven fibres material.
The entire project was set up in just seven months and is part of an ongoing effort to further study transferability of advanced recycling to alternative feedstocks and chemical products.
Final Thoughts
The pollution issue presented by our increasing reliance on hygiene products such as fact masks needs to be effectively dealt with. We were already facing a plastics crisis long before COVID-19 entered our global lexicon, and the onset of the crisis has only exacerbated the problem.
The chemical industry is ideally placed to address these issues and it’s encouraging to see brands such as SABIC stepping up to try and produce innovative solutions such as this collaboration with Fraunhofer and Proctor & Gamble.
“The high-quality circular PP polymer obtained in this pilot clearly demonstrates that closed-loop recycling is achievable through active collaboration of players from across the value chain,” said Global Circular Economy Leader at SABIC, Mark Vester. “The circular material is part of our TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio, aimed at preventing valuable used plastic from becoming waste and at mitigating the depletion of fossil resources.”
The logistics of closed loop plastics recycling is sure to be part of the conversation at LogiChem 2022, being held in March at De Doelen ICC Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Download the agenda today for more information and insights.