Thailand's IVL donates 1k PPE suits to personnel fighting COVID-19

"The yarns are made from used PET bottles which are collected from around the country and recycled, including through partners such as Big C Supercenter and The Street Ratchada as part of their CSR programmes," the Thailand-headquartered company said in a press release.

The medical graded PPE suits have been tailored by a producer certified by Thailand's Food and Drug Administration. The company recycles more than 1.6 billion post-consumer PET bottles every year, including 60,000 post-consumer bottles collected and donated by The Street Ratchada and Big C.

IVL donated 500 of the PPE suits to eight hospitals in Nakhon Pathom, namely Sam Pran Hospital, Nakhon Chaisi Hospital, Luang Por Poen Hospital, Huai Phlu Hospital, Don Tum Hospital, Bang Len Hospital, Kamphaeng Saen Hospital and Phuttha Monthon Hospital. It gave another 300 suits to field hospitals at Thammasat Hospital and in Nong Chok district in Bangkok, while the rest 200 PPE suits were delivered to the Naval Medical Department.

In addition to the PPE suits, IVL is producing 1,000 bedding sets made of yarns 100 per cent recycled from 45 PET beverage bottles and contain property of preventing virus and bacteria. The company will donate to field hospitals at Thammasat Hospital and in Nong Chok district.

"We are a responsible Thai company, and as part of our commitment to our community we continue to look at how we can help those around us who may be affected by COVID-19. We have successfully developed recycled PET yarns suitable for the PPE suits since last year. Our goal is to protect the protectors – frontline medical personnel –in a sustainable way. Our 100 per cent recyclable PET plastic has benefits as a hygienic and sustainable material. Our collaboration with The Street Ratchada and Big C will create more awareness of proper waste management and drive cooperation to help create a truly circular economy," Yash Lohia, chief sustainability officer at IVL, said.

"We have supported the production of the PPE suits by collecting the post-consumer PET bottles since last year. We were able to hand over a total of 730 kilograms of PET bottles being raw materials for recycling. We realise that medical personnel are working hard and are at risk of infection. It is important that all parties need to support each other and together fight against the outbreak situation. We would like to encourage all Thai people to be strong and go through this crisis together," Pongsak Nantawannakul, managing director at The Street Ratchada, said. 

"The PET bottles collection is part of ‘Biggie Bear Encourage Recycling’ project by the BJC Group’s Big C. We strive to be a driving force and take part in community, society and environment development as 'Thai Retailer with Customers at Its Heart'. More than 137 branches of Big C nationwide are now opening to collect post-consumer PET bottles. BJC Group’s Big C realised an increasing waste during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why we have initiated the project. The collaboration with IVL has enabled us to bring tangible benefits to waste as well as support medical personnel," said Piriya Kamoldechdecha, first executive vice president of Hyper, Market & Food Place Operations at Big C Supercenter Public Company Limited, a BJC Group retailer.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)