A local woman and Lindfield business have worked together to combat the dropped littering of masks since the pandemic started. Sophie Lamb swapped her two hours of commuting to/from Surrey when the first lockdown started, which she joyously replaced with working from home and walking around Lindfield and Haywards Heath instead. “With less traffic at the time, I noticed more nature and enjoyed the peace and quiet of my walks,” she commented.

With the easing of restrictions last summer however, she noticed more and more litter appearing on her routes. Sophie bought herself a litter picker and decided to ‘do her bit’, often filling one or two carrier bags each time. “Whilst actively looking for litter, I noticed more and more discarded PPE masks, and in a two week period I collected well over 100 masks. My main concern (apart from them being unsightly), was the risk to our local wildlife, so I looked for a way to recycle them and came across www.Reworked.com.”

ReWorked makes a plastic sheet product called Stormboard from 100% recycled plastic – often from waste that is considered ‘unrecyclable’, including used disposable masks which are normally made from polypropylene.

Sophie invested in a collection box from ReWorked and - with the help of Maxine Hayes at Potential Personal Training – anyone with used disposable masks can drop them into the reception at Unit 7 Lindfield Enterprise Park, off Lewes Road (open seven days a week, can be posted in carrier bag out of hours). Businesses generating a lot of PPE waste like this, can order collection boxes from www.reworked.com