They have become one of the most common litter items since the pandemic started, but now a group of Timaru teenagers wants to turn disposable masks into something useful.
Three Craighead Diocesan School students are on a mission to turn disposable masks into planter boxes, with the number of masks they have seen on the ground, prompting them to tackling the mask pollution problem.
Abby Lowe, 16, Charlotte Boyce,, and Jessamy Roadley, both 17, are year 12 and 13 students who are part of the school’s business class where they take part in the Young Enterpise Scheme.
As part of their studies they have had to develop a business plan, and have become the founders of Hangarua (to recycle) Collective.
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“We all agreed that the mask litter issue is getting out of hand and there is a lot of waste in the world, so we thought we would do our best for the young enterprise to resolve that issue and try something about it,” Jessamy said.
The group originally thought about making necklaces out of the mask waste, but “thankfully” a teacher pushed them to “dream bigger”, Boyce said.
The idea for turning the mask waste into planter boxes came from wanting to aid in creating a ‘’circular economy’’ and make the project focus on sustainability.
“We are asking the community for help in providing the masks, so we wanted to create a product that could then be used to help the community and so that is how the planter boxes idea came up,” Roadley said.
When brainstorming the design of the product, the group decided to make the product, even more, user-friendly they would make the planter box size customisable.
It is estimated that each corner piece of the box will contain almost 200 masks.
“You could have a 10-metre-long planter box if you wanted, I don’t know why anyone might need a 10-metre-long planter box, but it’s an option,” Boyce said.
The group has 3D-designed corner parts of the box which are in the process of being 3D printed, so they can have a prototype model ready for their presentation.
With meticulous research and networking the business is working with University of Canterbury professor Hossein Najaf Zadeh who has been able to turn the student's dream into a reality.
Zadeh, has a background in engineering and 3D printing technology, and is a lecturer at the university.
He is helping the group with the process of compression molding and injection molding, and is working on the group's prototype
The compression molding requires the masks to be heated up, turning it into a toothpaste consistency, then compressed into a mold.
“Because it is heating it up, we don't have to worry about filtering out all the different pieces of the facemask, and we can keep the metal nose bridged in and the ear loops,” Roaldey said.
“Therefore we don’t have to touch it to sort it out, so it is safer,” Lowe said.
The group is now in the process of collecting masks to make a full prototype.
While the project has been challenging for the trio, they said they are ‘’very grateful’’ to have taken on the business venture together.
“We are very excited about getting the project up and going and helping with the circular economy and figuring out how to solve the mask pollution problem,” Lowe said.
“There are still some logistic challenges to think about, and our to-do list for the project is getting longer, but we are excited to keep going,” Boyce said.
The Hangarua Collective is in the process of figuring out where to store the masks once picking them up from drop off points, and establishing more drop off points in the Canterbury region.
Masks can be dropped off at Property Brokers Timaru
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