Researchers are working to channel them away from incinerators
At least four Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) institutes, along with several private firms, are working on recycling plastic waste from discarded PPE (personal protective equipment) kits, masks and disposable testing equipment. The researchers aim to utilise the recycled material to pave roads, make bricks or reuse them for biomedical purposes after a microwaved process of sterilisation. The manufacturers are confident that with help of experts they will be able to develop a prototype by the end of September.
Maser Technology, a start-up, has developed a microwave that can sterilise PPE kits and masks rendering them reusable. A device named Optimaser uses microwave technology to sterilise used PPE kits and masks. Twenty PPE kits can be sterilised within 20 minutes using Optimaser. The technology has been tested by AIIMS. According to the manufacturers, one PPE kit can be reused 20 times after being sterilised in Optimaser after each use.