As reported in Dive Magazine, Fourth Element are now offering scuba diving tools made from recycled face masks.
With the help of the well-known repurposing experts at Waterhaul, Fourth Element are working to “retask the mask”, by turning recycled PPE from UK hospitals into tools that can be used in the pursuit of underwater adventure. Cave line markers are the first of Fourth Element’s products to be made in this way, with each item re-using the equivalent of two disposable face masks. And don’t worry, the recycled product is guaranteed safe to handle thanks to multiple high-temperature heat-treatments used during the manufacturing process.
These new cave line markers are the first of what will be a full range of Fourth Element products created from PPE previously used by healthcare workers. Jim Standing, co-founder of Fourth Element, said, “We are all going to have to tackle the challenges of a post-covid world and one of these will be how we deal with the waste we have created as part of keeping ourselves and in particular, our frontline workers protected. We intend to play our part.”
With an estimated 58 million single-use plastic face masks being thrown away every day in the UK alone - and a reported 1.5 billion entered the ocean across the globe within the last year - a solution such as this couldn’t be more welcome.