CTT won the CSR Coups de Coeur 2022 award, from PostEurop, in the Environmental category, with the mask recycling project against Covid-19, an initiative of the UMinho spin-off To-Be-Green, which the company joined in July 2021. According to João Bento, CTT’s CEO, “giving a second life to protective masks is an innovative project that promotes the circular economy by processing waste to create new products.”
In just a year and a half, CTT and To-Be-Green recycled tens of thousands of masks used by the company’s employees, contributing to the reduction of waste, with a strong positive impact on the environment. The community is the force for change and the adoption of sustainable practices is increasingly urgent. This was a very well-received project within CTT, being yet another example of our strong commitment to environmental issues.”
The mask recycling and recovery project coordinated by To-Be-Green, to give a second life to discarded masks usually sent to landfill, was initially implemented in CTT’s Production and Logistics Centres in Cabo Ruivo and Maia and in the Logistics and Distribution Centre in Taveiro, and then extended to the Company’s headquarters in Lisbon and also to two Express operations centres, MARL and Perafita.
The masks used and deposited in the containers by the employees working at those locations were later transformed through a chemical process into a resistant material, which was used to create new products, and the project continues to bear fruit.
Last year, in December, just in time to celebrate the Christmas season in a more sustainable and solidary way, the first products were produced – small decorations for the Christmas tree. The project continued to bear fruit and the masks started to give life to hangers produced 100% with CTT recycled material and other products used in CTT operations.
This project also has the involvement of CVR – Centre for Waste Valorisation, UMinho’s interface with the areas of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering of the School of Engineering of UMinho.
Get to know this project of To-Be-Green, spin-off whose founder is a professor of the Textile Engineering Department of the School of Engineering of UMinho here.
Source: CTT
