THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Recycled fibre used for PPE coveralls by the Dental Council of Thailand

Recycled fibre used for PPE coveralls by the Dental Council of Thailand

Indorama Ventures Pcl (IVL), a global chemical producer, together with 101 True Digital Park, Bangkok Hospital, Bitec, Esplanade Cineplex Ngamwongwan-Khae Rai, Major Cineplex, Michelin Thailand, Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Trash Lucky and Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, are supporting the production of PPE coveralls made from recycled PET yarns.

The project is called "Separate PET Bottles to Help Dentists", led by Less Plastics Thailand. In collaboration with these nine partners, PET bottles have been collected for recycling and conversion to high-quality recycled PET yarns by Thailand’s sole source of medical-grade rPET yarns at IVL's Nakhon Pathom recycling plant. These yarns were used to produce 2,100 PPE coveralls handed over to the Dental Council of Thailand in support of dental students, who are driving this environmental project at their universities.

This collaboration has been extended from the “Separate PET Bottles to Help Doctors” programme, which has been successfully conducted since August 2020. It was Thailand’s first PPE coverall made from yarn recycled from post-consumer PET bottles, with 100 per cent collected domestically. Some 16,500 level 2 and level 3 PPE coveralls have been donated to more than 200 hospitals across the country to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic together.

Samornmit Lamsam, the founder of Less Plastic Thailand, an environmental conservation network, said, "There has been a great response to the project, carried out over the past half-year. We witnessed the benefits of recycling PET bottles and realised that there are other groups of medical personnel who require PPE as they perform their duties, not just doctors. "Therefore, the project has been extended to help dentists through the Dental Council of Thailand, which received cooperation from partners, from the collection of post-consumer PET bottles to the completion of the PPE coveralls handed over to dental students."

Yash Lohia, chief sustainability officer at Indorama Ventures, said, "IVL is delighted to see such strong leadership among our partner organisations. With more advocates and focus on separating PET bottles from day-to-day packaging, we were able to utilise our extensive know-how of the PET recycling business to develop yarn for PPE coveralls made of 100 per cent IVL rPET yarns for the first time in Thailand, without the need to import from abroad. As the sole manufacturer of yarns for PPE made from recycled PET bottles in Thailand, we are proud to acknowledge that they are being used for the benefit of the medical profession across the country.

This reflects the benefits of plastic as a hygienic and recyclable material, which brings more value to society and maximises our resource consumption to follow a truly circular economy."

RELATED
nationthailand