The Technological Development Unit will include some of the items in its recycling plan, given that the interest of companies and organizations in generating agreements and developing new products has been maintained over time.
The UDT will continue with its task of recycling masks, which will cease to be obligatory as of October 1, with the sole exception of their use in health centers.
Carla Pérez Quilodrán, deputy director of the Consulting and Innovation Department of the Technological Development Unit, commented that interest in agreements and proposals from organizations has not diminished noticeably, but that there will still be a drop in the collection of the material. “Our main clients are the food industry, which uses masks permanently, and educational establishments, which we do not yet know how they will behave,” he said. As a measure of that interest, he noted that companies continue to contact each other to recycle their waste and obtain new elements, so as to implement circular economy strategies within their processes.
That is why, during the month of October, the project will be carrying out tests with other protective elements that companies currently discard. “We are looking into recycling other elements that are not recycled as much or are more difficult to recycle, such as gloves, caps, plastic aprons, straps and even tetra packs. In the coming months we will see how to deal with these types of waste,” he added.
“During the year we did very preliminary tests, with that we saw where the path is going. Now we have established a new agreement with Asipes to carry out larger-scale tests and define what products can be made with these materials, so research and innovation will not stop,” said Pérez, regarding the future of the project.
Source: UdeC News