The Importance of Recycling Covid19 Waste
Amid the Covid19 pandemic, a common topic has become significant these days. And that is recycling of Covid19 waste. Thus, it has led to the idea of recycling Covid-19 related waste to manufacture various scuba diving instruments from it.
Covid19 waste crisis
The massive consumption and disposal of single-use alcohol gel packs, gloves, and masks around the world are the side-effects of the pandemic. Consequently, this has become a problem as it led to the pollution of the oceans.
Open call to all shapers
A global awareness drive has been initiated by Unwanted Shapes to find solutions to this new challenge. This program has sponsored a design competition of making surfboards using only Covid19 waste.
Shapers have the chance to submit their theoretical entries at the unwantedshapes.com website. A panel of jurors will select the best entries and the shapers who are declared winners will receive support to make them a reality.
Waste treatment before use
A start-up company specializing in recycling clothes was also inspired to switch by applying single use face masks as one of its raw materials.
Reportedly, the firm has gathered more than 50,000 face masks and placed them under quarantine for 4 days. Moreover, decontamination of the waste materials were done by placing them under ultraviolet light.
After the decontamination process, the materials were ground, mixed with a binding material, and transformed into a compound called Plaxtil. Accordingly, it can be molded in the manufacturing process just like a typical plastic.
Comparatively new design ideas
This type of competition will indeed be a great precedent to the importance of recycling materials and eliminating waste from the environment.
This might work for surfboard designers, which can greatly impact the massive disposal of solid waste from the Covid19 prevention drive.
These new design ideas may not come from big time, high volume shapers, but more interestingly from smaller, backyard type shapers. That is because they can build something for the general public with less restraint.
Thus, they are able to build one-off designs that may or may not work as expected. Of course, there will be a display of some weird ideas, which is almost the point in the said design competition.
