New Zealand Researchers Aim to Recycle COVID-19 Masks, Gowns

SYDNEY - Researchers in New Zealand are testing new techniques to find out whether masks and gowns used by health workers as protection against COVID-19 can be decontaminated and safely used again.   

Researchers want to reduce the “mountain” of personal protective equipment, or PPE, that is discarded around the world daily. According to experts in New Zealand, estimates indicate that in China alone, hundreds of thousands of metric tons of PPE are going to the landfill each day.     Mark Staiger is an associate professor of materials engineering at the University of Canterbury.    “The amount of waste that is being produced by the pandemic is absolutely huge. It has been estimated that something like 3 million face masks are being used per minute around the world. Other studies have shown that something like 3.5 billion face masks and face shields are being discarded globally every day,” he said.