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A team in Swansea, Wales is trying to find a solution for the PPE waste from the coronavirus pandemic. Per the BBC, single-use facemasks, aprons and visors could be recycled with a new technology being developed by scientists.
Right now, PPE waste is incinerated, which causes emissions. In this format, sunlight breaks down the PPE into hydrogen. Scientists are trying to determine whether the sunlight scheme can also kill pathogens, including the coronavirus.
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Project lead Dr. Moritz Kuehnel told the BBC that the facemasks that are waste are “just the tip of the iceberg if you think of the NHS and all those disposable aprons and gloves which have increased a lot because of Covid. Applying our technology to reprocess just 1% of this waste would save millions and mitigate pollution at the same time.”