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Coronavirus: Designer Turns PPE Waste Into Mattresses
Posted
January 5, 2021
Views
1,388
Likes
40
Comments
10
Engagement
3.60%
January 5, 2021
1,388
40
10
3.60%
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2:45Now PlayingThe Covid-19 pandemic has led the world struggling to deal with the spread of another medical problem -- a deluge of contaminated waste.
During the peak of the crisis, Wuhan, the city where the outbreak began, generated 240 tons a day of medical refuse -- six times the normal level, according to the nation’s Environment Ministry. Only a few countries have the capacity to handle the additional volumes, the Asian Development Bank estimated said.
Lakshmi Menon, a designer turned social entrepreneur, upcycles PPE scraps into low-cost mattresses for Covid-19 patients and the needy.
The process requires no machine, no needle, and no thread. The leftovers of this whole process get converted into soft pillows. The bedrolls can be washed, disinfected and reused.
"Lying on a proper mattress, getting a good night's sleep is so important for any individual, irrespective of whether he has a home or no home," says Lakshmi.
“A significant increase in medical waste generation is probably happening in different parts of the world as we encounter the peak of the crisis, as we’ve seen in emerging data from Wuhan and other cities in Asia” said Shardul Agrawala, head of the environment and economics integration division at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The pandemic reignited demand for plastic packaging as well as boosted production of single-use items like masks, gloves and test kits in which plastic is a key component. That’s undone years of work by governments and environmentalists to try wean consumers off single-use plastics and cut the poisonous emissions of urban incinerators.
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