At the recently held SWM 20th birthday celebrations, we were thrilled to be presented with the award for Resource Efficiency sponsored by Accelar and presented by Claire Ollerenshaw. Accelor were themselves presented with the award for Adapting to Climate Change, so congratulations to them and all the other winners and finalists last Thursday.
At Staysafe, we are passionate about reducing the impact of unwanted PPE on our environment and our intervention in the destruction of re-usable gloves and workwear. For too long it has been treated as disposable, and single use when it is soiled; but it is manufactured to be used, washed, and re-issued several times, and PPE recycling is our core business. 75% of PPE we collect is returned to be re-issued. End of life PPE is either shredded and re-purposed, or collected for energy recovery from waste, so nothing we handle goes to landfill. Furthermore, the cost of washing and repairing is around 60% lower than new replacements. With the bulk of PPE being produced in the Far East and Asia, the associated imported carbon footprint is in the region of 14.7 tonnes of CO2e for every tonne of textiles produced. (WRAP). Last year we saved around 1,000 tonnes of PPE from unnecessary destruction, and we hope this award will raise awareness so we can continue to promote the washing and re-using of PPE.