Upcycled Medical Ltd explores why they’re turning plastic waste into eco-conscious clothing
Our oceans are filling up with plastic waste, which can cause irreparable damage not only to the environment and wildlife but to humans, too. If the problem of plastic pollution is ignored, then macroplastics could permeate every level of the food chain. Looking into eco-conscious clothing, we can make a sustainable change starting with the clothes we wear.
Recycling pre-consumer textile and plastic waste can prevent them from ending up in oceans and landfills. At Upcycled Medical, we’ve made it our mission to leave no stone unturned when saving the environment. Our work is defined by what we’ve called the three Ps:
Protect Our Planet
We aim to stop marine litter from contaminating our seas, oceans and water bodies, and prevent plastic waste from killing marine animals and plants.
Protect Our People
We’ve designed eco-friendly and sustainable clothing made from upcycled plastic waste products, which require fewer resources and create less waste.
Purposefully Produce Ethical Clothing
Not only are our products gentle on the body, but they also don’t negatively impact the environment.
Why do we turn waste products into eco-conscious clothing?
Plastic has a much longer shelf-life than any other product – although it’s biodegradable, it can take years to break down, and some kinds of plastic can take centuries. Our landfills are filled with more than 4.6 billion tons of plastic, and this year, another 500 million tons of new plastic products will be created, which will likely end up in those same landfills. Unfortunately, studies have shown that only 9% of plastic waste products get recycled and upcycled into brand-new products, which is why we’ve made it our mission to change that.
What are the benefits of eco-conscious clothing?
Many materials can be recycled, from wood and paper to plastic and textiles. We focus on plastic, however, since it’s the most damaging to the environment. Recycling plastic products can help businesses save money, give communities new jobs, teach them new skills, and, more importantly, protect the environment. Marine pollution is already killing wildlife and damaging coral reefs, leading to massive biodiversity loss. This could, in turn, affect entire ecosystems and leave whole oceans uninhabitable, which would have substantial knock-on effects for us.
What does Upcycled Medical produce?
We’ve dedicated ourselves to making quality, sustainable products out of recycled materials. Instead of using crude oil to make new plastic products, we aim to turn existing waste plastic into upcycled eco-conscious clothing. We do this by taking discarded products, converting them into sustainable fibres, and turning those fibres into recycled plastic yarn. We currently manufacture products for the medical and healthcare industry, including medical gowns, lab coats, scrubs, curtains and bed sheets. Our products are made from a fabric blend of 65% polyester and 35% cotton. This type of fabric means our products have a longer working life, and are suitable for domestic and industrial washing.
In the future, we won’t just be creating eco-conscious clothing and fabrics – we plan to take the plastic pellets made from recycled products and use them to create a diverse range of products, including shopping bags from polypropylene pellets, designer clothing from PET plastics, and various other products out of HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) pellets.
How you can work with us
At Upcycled Medical, we’re leading the way in transforming waste management and creating a more sustainable future. We work with organisations like Bupa, collecting their plastic waste with our fleet of electric vehicles, sorting it at our sites, turning it into pellets, and upcycling those pellets into new products – from medical gowns to face masks. We’re committed to providing the medical industry with sustainable and eco-conscious clothing options – join us on our mission to make our planet a cleaner and safer place!
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
