NHS Upping its Use of Reusable Textiles

A firm based in Hampshire, England, is partnering with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) to reduce its production of plastic waste and increase its use of reusable textiles, according to a recent report.

The company, Revolution Zero, works with NHS England, NHS Wales and regional healthcare organizations across the UK. As part of its partnership, the company is supplying the NHS with locally sourced reusable facemasks, surgical gowns, operating theatre drapes and other personal protective equipment (PPE).

The NHS went through more than a billion facemasks in 2020, generating roughly 7.71 million lbs. (3.5 million kg.) of waste, and the organization has built up a dependence on a single-use supply chain over the past 30 years that is not only vulnerable, but unnecessarily expensive in both monetary and environmental terms, according to Dr. Tom Dawson, the founder of Revolution Zero and a visiting research fellow at Exeter University. Dawson was quoted in an article published online by Innovation in Textiles, titled “The rise of reusables for the UK’s NHS.”

“We are supporting the adoption of reusable medical textiles and our product range continues to grow with close-to-home manufacturing partners of surgical textiles for the Operating Room environment, including customized gowns and drapes,” Dawson told Innovation in Textiles. “A reusable Type IIR facemask has also been identified that can be decontaminated and is affordable and scalable.”

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