Grist Environmental donate recycling containers, collection service and plastic recycling experience to the local school COVID 19 PPE production team.
Initially trained as an industrial designer, local deputy head teacher, Kevin McGuiness realised it was possible to make PPE for health workers and started making protective visors in his kitchen for key workers
As deputy head of St Joseph’s Catholic School in Devizes, when the lockdown started, he thought “what can we do to help” and he quickly realised that he could put a school laser-cutting machine to good use and started manufacturing plastic Visors for front line NHS staff. Other organisations joined in and there are now 11 cutting locations.
He is making 2,000 per day and cannot keep up with the orders coming in, with around 10,000 either completed or on order to go out this week. He took delivery yesterday of enough material to make 45,000 from the donations so far received.
Once production had started, he realised he would need help from a plastic recycling company to recycle and recover waste offcuts and immediately got on the phone to us at Grist Environmental in Devizes. We volunteered to help by donating a free of charge waste collection and recycling service to the Market Lavington production site, where the visors are made.
Simon Grist, Managing Director said “Grist Environmental are keen supporters of the local community and view this service as payback for the excellent work that the NHS regularly provide all our communities but particularly during the Coronavirus Covid 19 crisis. If this service helps to provide protection for our NHS angels against this deadly virus, then we are glad to be a part of this fantastic community project.”
“Plastic has received a bad press recently because of environmental concerns, but now plastic has come to the rescue to protect our brave NHS from potential infection. The waste plastics from this PPE production will be taken to our Devizes Materials Recovery Facility with single stream polymers being recycled and any other waste material sent to Energy Recovery sites in the UK with nothing going to landfill.”
