A sustainable single-use facemask recycling scheme is set to launch in 150 Wilko stores across the country. Customers doing their essential shopping will be able to bring their used disposable masks and safely place them in the collection bins at the front of the stores.

A rise in single-use PPE litter due to the pandemic has been a significant area of concern, with serious environmental effects of discarded masks becoming an unforeseen side-effect of Covid-19.

An estimated 129 billion face masks are used globally* every single month. In an effort to reduce the harm caused, the home and garden retailer has teamed up with ReWorked www.reworked.com & Scan2Recycle www.scan2recycle.com - launching an innovative scheme to recycle the single-use facemasks, titled #ReclaimTheMask.

Jerome Saint Marc, CEO at wilko, said: "Showing we care isn't something we just do at wilko, it's one of our core values. We're thrilled to partner with ReWorked to be the first on the high street to take positive action, recycling discarded face masks on behalf of our customers.

"The scheme is super simple for shoppers to safely recycle a product which is often unavoidably discarded as a result of us all taking steps to protect the health of everyone around us. What's more, it also means we're able to help hardworking families, local communities and other businesses by turning something that we're simply throwing away into a useful and sustainable product that can have a genuinely positive impact."

The campaign brings new hope for the mountains of waste PPE reportedly found washing up on our beaches, polluting our waterways & scattered along our streets.

Scientific research** suggests there are now more disposable face masks in the world's oceans than jellyfish. Undoubtedly, providing a safe place for people to dispose of & recycle masks will positively affect the environment.

The facemask material, made primarily from PP (polypropylene, a type of plastic), is sent to Yorkshire based recycling partners ReWorked for processing. After a minimum 72-hour quarantine period, the PPE is washed & shredded into 5mm pieces before being mixed with other waste plastic to a specific recipe.

The shredded plastic mixture is heated to 200C+ and pressed into durable boards. The boards go on to become building materials, furniture and even bins to collect more waste plastic.

Izzie Glazzard, Marketing Manager at ReWorked, said, "It's brilliant to be working with wilko to tackle such an important & current issue. Their drive to provide this innovative service to their customers has been admirable.

The scheme tackles a waste issue nobody had even considered until recently. Initiatives like these can drastically reduce the amount of harmful plastic waste entering our streets, parks and oceans, affecting the health of our planet."

The high-street first campaign launches April 1st in 150 participating wilko stores and will run for three months.

Find out if you have a participating store near you - https://www.wilko.com/face-mask-recycling

* SOURCE: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.0c02178
** SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/08/more-masks-than-jellyfish-coronavirus-waste-ends-up-in-ocean