Adopting circular economy approaches is becoming an increasingly important part of policy makers’ agendas in the fight against climate change. These approaches include reducing material inputs, using more environmentally friendly and reusable materials when producing goods, ensuring materials are properly recycled, and minimizing waste and pollution. They have become even more important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with personal protective equipment (PPE) becoming an inseparable part of daily life. Manufacturers across the globe had to increase PPE production, which inevitably created a surge in plastic waste because polypropylene is still the main material used to manufacture PPE for health-care workers. A recent research study estimates that, since the outbreak, the amount of plastic waste generated globally is 1.6 million tons per day.Furthermore, an estimated 3.4 billion single-use face masks and shields are being discarded every day. This unpredicted increase in plastic waste is happening at a time when countries are reluctant to recycle products because of the lack of complementary decontamination steps and coordination in waste management.Some manufacturers took this opportunity of increased PPE production to adopt circular economy approaches that can be replicated by others. Decentralized production and material sourcing became more important as supply chains were severely disrupted by the pandemic. This has accelerated the ongoing changes in conventional production methods, with businesses embracing a cradle-to-cradle manufacturing model—that is, rethinking the design of their products from the starting point at the sourcing stage through to the end of the product’s life.

This is not without its challenges. For example, when replacing plastics with alternative materials, manufacturers need to ensure that these materials meet quality standards set by standards institutions and enforced by governments.However, PPE manufacturers cannot shoulder the responsibility of the global plastic waste challenge alone. This publication calls on a broad range of stakeholders along the PPE value chain to work together to shift toward a more sustainable and circular PPE ecosystem.This report takes stock of approaches that PPE manufacturers are taking to make their production more sustainable and achieve a true circular economy, while responding to COVID-19 PPE shortages. It does not provide a life-cycle assessment of each PPE product, which is needed to evaluate the environmental effects associated with each product against the benefits created. The approaches highlighted in this report can be grouped into four main categories:

•Circular inputs: The use of renewable, bio-based, or completely recyclable materials as input.

•Resource recovery: Ensuring that useful resources and energy are recovered from disposed products by collecting and reprocessing products at the end of their life.

•Product use extension: Prolonging the lifespan of PPE products by choosing a design that allows the product to be repaired or by choosing durable materials as inputs for the main PPE parts.

•Product as service: The product-as-service model allows the consumer to use a product that is retained by the producer to increase resource productivity (for example, leasing PPE). This model allows PPE manufacturers to move from selling products to selling services.