The Taiwan Nonwoven Fabrics Industry Association has collaborated with Taiwan Comfort Champ to connect verification units and create a mask recycling system to turn masks into recyclable plastic materials.
In general, masks are made of polypropylene, nylon, iron wire, and other materials. They can only be incinerated after being discarded, and improperly disposing of them can lead to environmental problems.
Simplification of materials for masks
Taiwan Comfort Champ has simplified the materials used to manufacture masks and launched 100% plastic masks, with PP non-woven fabric, PP ear loops, and PE nose wires, which can be recycled without disassembly. After high-temperature melting and sterilization, the materials can be made into clothes hangers, “PCR-face masks,” building materials, etc. In addition, Taiwan Comfort Champ cooperated with the ROSO COOP Lab to combine recycled plastic with 3D printing technology to design art furnishings.
Recyclable mark verification
The Taiwan Nonwoven Fabrics Industry Association and Taiwan Comfort Champ and other companies are promoting the recyclable mask mark, overseeing and approving its use. Only after the Taiwan Textile Research Institute has verified a product’s material and capacity for recycling and confirmed that it meets the standards, can the manufacturer use this mark.
Creating a post-consumer mask recycling channel
After consumers use masks with the recyclable mark, they can collect a certain number of masks and pack them into boxes and notify the task force through the official LINE, and it will send a special car to collect them for free. The Taiwan Nonwoven Fabrics Industry Association has also cooperated with companies that have a large demand for masks (such as electronics factories) to ensure that masks can be recycled into new materials.
Benefits
- By switching to recyclable masks and using a recycling system, approximately 1.786 million tons of carbon emissions caused by production and incineration can be reduced every month in Taiwan [1].
[1] According to statistics from the Taiwan Textile Research Institute, Taiwan produced an average of 183 million masks per month in 2023. If we estimate that the weight of a single mask is 4 grams, and all of the masks are used once, 732,000 tons of waste were generated every month.