TAIWAN’S COMPANY TURN RECYCLED SURGICAL MASKS INTO PHONE CHARGERS

MINIWIZ engineer makes chargers. (Taiwan News photo, Lyla Liu).

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thu 03 February 2022:

Taiwan’s Fubon Financial Holding Co. and Miniwiz are converting recycled face masks into phone chargers to accomplish the goal of a circular economy.

People are frantically buying facemasks as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, which is adding a new unwanted aspect to pollution.

“During the pandemic, the most throwaway products are single-use masks,” explained co-founder and CEO of Miniwiz Arthur Huang.

”So we came up with the idea of something that people actually need to use recently, especially during the pandemic.”

Recycling spots were set up at Fubon’s office buildings to collect unwanted face masks. For this purpose, Miniwiz’s innovative technology was used.

Phone chargers made of recycled surgical masks at Songshan Cultural Creative Park on Friday (Dec. 24.) (Taiwan News photo, Lyla Liu)

Fubon Financial Holding Chairman Daniel Tsai said they converted them into colorful phone chargers as an anniversary gift for employees.

Highlighting the significance of sustainability, Tsai said he hopes the exercise will benefit the environment.

“Every three minutes we can make a charger out of face masks that can reduce waste,” said Huang.

“Transforming local waste into a valuable product is the ultimate goal.”

Because of the pandemic, the fabrication process has become more automated using an AI recycling system called “ROBIN” and a “mini TRASHPRESSO.” The entrepreneur referenced the Disney animation “WALL-E” as an example, “The image of a robot with big eyes collecting trash and remaking it into something useful is a big deal for every engineer.”

Huang said that if people continue to overconsume natural resources and produce too much waste, a dystopia is not far away.

It comes after a report by the World Health Organization warned that discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles from the COVID-19 pandemic have piled up to create tens of thousands of tonnes of medical waste, threatening human health and the environment.

“We found that COVID-19 has increased healthcare waste loads in facilities to up to 10 times,” Maggie Montgomery, a WHO technical officer, told Geneva-based journalists.

It advocated for reform and investment, including a reduction in packaging, which has resulted in a rush for plastic, as well as the usage of protective gear made of reusable and recyclable materials.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent