As the number of daily Covid-19 cases remains high, Personal Protective Equipment or PPE suits are still in demand. Earlier this month, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) estimated that 35,000 PPE suits are used daily in the country.
In order to help supply more PPE suits to healthcare workers, Less Plastic Thailand has launched "Yaek Khuat Chuai Mor (PET To PPE Project)", which turns used Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET bottles into reusable PPE suits or reusable isolation gowns.
"The PET To PPE Project" initially kicked off last year after the Covid-19 pandemic hit Thailand," said Metha Senthong, project coordinator. "It has already donated 20,000 reusable isolation gowns to 200 hospitals nationwide. However, information about the project is still only available on social media. When the number of infections began to rise again, many people contacted Less Plastic Thailand and said that they wanted to donate water bottles, so there would be more PPE suits for healthcare workers."
The fourth edition of the project recently kicked off and runs until Dec 25.
"Before the current project, we had completed three phases already. All bottles and money donated were used to make reusable PPE suits. However, many people misunderstood that we are still open for donations of water bottles and contacted us. As a result, we decided to form a team with three members and work with other partners such as textile manufacturers Thai Taffeta and YouTurn who coordinate with bottle collectors. In the fourth phase, we plan to donate 5,000 PPE suits to hospitals in the initial 13 dark red zones," said Metha.
Unlike many donation projects that provide disposable isolation gowns to healthcare workers, Less Plastic Thailand aims to donate reusable PPE gowns that are washable up to 20 times to hospitals that have their own laundry service.
"When we began the project due to the pandemic, there was a shortage of disposable isolation gowns and an increase of plastic waste. To reduce waste, we intended to provide reusable PPE gowns to hospitals that have standard laundry services so they could clean and reuse donated isolation gowns. If we use only disposable isolation gowns, there will never be enough. After use and cleaning, each reusable isolation gown will be marked how many times it has been used. When a gown has been used 20 times, it can still be used as a normal gown but not as an isolation gown," explained the project coordinator.
Washable and reusable isolation gowns donated by Less Plastic Thailand are called level 2 PPE. These are suitable for minor medical procedures while level 3 PPE suits are appropriate for surgery.
Collecting water bottles is a major task since the main material of reusable isolation gowns is Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET bottles. Less Plastic Thailand's ally, YouTurn, cooperates with PTT Stations and other organisations to provide drop off points where people can leave their used water bottles at locations near them. The "PET To PPE Project" has received overwhelming interest from donors. Since the project is run by three members and Metha is the only one in charge of responding to questions from donors, he has been very busy.
"Some people ask questions even at 1am. It would be nice if everyone read through all the information provided on the page before asking a question. To handle questions, we may set up a chatbot service in the future," he said.
Before launching the project, reusable PPE suits were made from fibre imported from Taiwan but Metha and his team prefer to reuse local waste.
"Fibre made from recycled bottles from Taiwan are better quality and cheaper because their recycled plastic bottles are clean, so they do not have to pay much for the recycling process. In contrast, bottles in Thailand are dirty and require more processing but we intend to use local bottles and plan to promote the importance of waste sorting. We have discovered that more people understand this," said Metha.
In addition to promoting waste sorting, the project aims to inform the public about PET bottles. Metha said 90% of water bottles in Thailand are PET.
"The identifying mark of a PET bottle is a triangle symbol with number 1 inside. Bottles for making PPE suits must be colourless and should not contain anything inside. Some people put meatball sticks, discarded face masks, engine oil or liquid bleach in bottles. These are dangerous for people who work in the recycling process," said Metha.
Some donors questioned whether they should separate bottle caps and labels or not.
"It would be nice if a donor can separate a cap from a bottle and send it to other projects that recycle caps such as Precious Plastic Bangkok and Yolo: Zero Waste Your Life, but labels cannot be recycled. If separating a cap and label is a burden, the donor does not need to do so," he said.
Some people also wonder if they should clean bottles before sending them.
"A bottle should be clean enough to keep at your place for a week but you do not have to clean it with dishwashing liquid. Washing the bottle with water and letting it dry is enough," explained Metha.
Since used plastic bottles are not hygienic, many people are concerned if reusable PPE suits will be clean and safe for healthcare workers. Metha said the cleaning process begins with breaking the plastic bottles into small fragments and boiling them in hot water and then melting and grounding the plastic fragments at high temperatures.
"Due to the high temperature, germs and bacteria are killed. After that, the melting mixture will be made into thread and later 100% polyester which will undergo a water repellent coating process. The polyester will be tailored into PPE suits in accordance with the standards of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Each factory must have FDA approval before making PPE suits," he explained.
Since this reusable PPE polyester is woven, it is different from disposable PPE suits which are like raincoats that are uncomfortable and make medical workers sweat.
"Medical people gave us positive feedback that they felt comfortable wearing reusable PPE suits for several hours. Our PPE suits cost around 450 baht each while disposable PPE suit cost only 150 baht. Some people think our PPE suits are expensive. However, each suit can be used 20 times and the only cost is laundry service. Our PPE suits cost an average of 50 baht per one-time-use," said Metha.
Many Thai people like to donate things even though they may live far away from the bottles' drop off points. The project coordinator suggests that there are other ways to support the project.
"It does not make sense to pay an expensive delivery fee to the textile manufacturer in Rayong. Donors should sell their bottles to garbage collectors in their areas which will ensure bottles enter the recycling process. They can also donate that money to our two fundraising organisations -- Foundation of Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University and/or Chulabhorn International College of Medicine, Thammasat University," he said.
The project representative hopes that in the future, more branches of the recycling franchise, Wongpanit, will join the project.
"Wongpanit has a drive-through drop off point, so people can drop their bottles safely in an outdoor area which is appropriate for the current situation. Currently, we almost have enough bottles but we still lack the budget to purchase other materials and to pay for tailoring the PPE suits. We hope we will get cooperation from the public," concluded Metha.
Visit facebook.com/YOUTURNPLATFORM or bit.ly/3f38Uu1 to see drop off points. Visit facebook.com/lessplasticthailand for more information.
