Orca Hygiene has launched a wine box style dispenser for sanitiser gel, the first of its kind in the UK, to reduce the amount of #plastic waste which has soared during the Covid pandemic.
The recyclable 5l pack is intended to provide an environmentally friendly option to the widely available single use plastic containers.
The leading manufacturer and specialist solutions provider of health and hygiene products says millions of empty liquid soap and hand sanitiser plastic bottles have been dumped in landfill sites along with billions of other pieces of single use PPE, including masks and gowns since the pandemic hit.
The wine box style dispenser is made out of reinforced lined wholly recyclable card, made from 78% recycled materials and contains either quality alcohol or alcohol free hand sanitise gels, rubs and surface disinfectants, which are dispensed through a small tap. The products are manufactured by Orca Hygiene in regularly monitored, sanitary environments and meet the relevant BS EN standards.
Orca Hygiene said the dispenser had been created in response to growing concerns that the Covid crisis was leading to millions of more tonnes of plastic waste being sent to landfill. Even before the pandemic hit the amount of plastic being dumped has topped 29 million metric tonnes a year.
Doug Cowie from Orca said, ‘Orca Hygiene wants to play our part in reducing the amount of plastic waste we produce and we came up with the idea of offering a recyclable alternative as a way of dispensing sanitised hygiene liquids and gels, which is also easy to use.
‘We all have a responsibility to consider the environment in everything we do and we are conscious of the extra amount of single use plastic that is now in circulations. It has been shown that through careful waste management and recycling technology the amount of waste can be reduced by nearly 80% over the next 20 years.’
With many businesses quickly responding to the requirements around government protocols around hands, face, space packaging usage has often been a second thought as health has had to have been the primary consideration.
As a result, Orca warned that Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNS) and their respective targets will have gone out of the window leaving many businesses being faced with hefty bills when the submit their audit. Plastic can be 10 to 12 times more expensive to buy PRNs for and the offers the opportunity to make larger commercial off set commercial savings when set against high hygiene product use.