Plant-Based

PADM Medical Group of Companies – a worldwide pioneer in the establishment of environmentally friendly medical consumables – has announced that it has been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market Precision Eco face masks.

The Precision Eco face masks are touted by the company as the world’s first plant-based masks to be used for medical purposes in the healthcare industry.

The news comes at a time when both consumers and governments are becoming more aware of the dangers that plastic pollution poses to the environment. Every year, millions of disposable surgical masks made of petroleum are discarded around the world. Incredibly, the majority of disposable PPE made of non-biodegradable polymers can take up to 500 years to decompose in landfills, rivers, and other environments.

During the peak of the COVID pandemic, Taiwan produced over a billion surgical masks, according to Greenpeace data. In just three months, this resulted in the waste of more than 5000 metric tonnes, demonstrating the pressing need for environmentally friendly products in general and masks in particular.

This is where the Precision Eco masks make their mark. These plant-based masks, created by Roswell Textiles from renewable crop resources using Ecofuse materials, help mitigate the damaging effects of single-use, disposable masks on the environment. They are created using high-purity polylactic acid (Luminy PLA) issued by TotalEnergies Corbion. 

The Ecofuse materials used in their creation are industrially compostable, and because of their plant-based nature, these masks play their part in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50% compared to the regular petroleum-based face masks. Through their net carbon reduction, the Precision Eco masks also produce carbon credits.

The masks also contain earloops and, with a biobased content of more than 80%, are USDA Certified. Martin Petrak, CEO of PADM Medical Group, said, “The EUA on the Precision Eco product is a milestone. It is a reward for our commitment to making eco-conscious products to support the health and wellness of all individuals and our planet. This commitment drives us as a company as we continue to innovate for a greener and more sustainable world. We are working in collaboration with our global partners to develop the vast potential of our Precision Eco plant-based/compostable masks.”

TotalEnergies Corbion – previously Total Corbion PLA – is a technology expert in lactide monomers and PLA. The latter is a biodegradable polymer that is composed of renewable materials, meaning its carbon footprint is much less than conventional plastic.

Derek Atkinson, Vice President of Business Development at TotalEnergies Corbion, stated that companies shouldn’t just accept how things are being done now as the only way to operate. As such, minimizing the impact of products on the environment is crucial, and developments like Precision Eco will help them bring these ambitions to fruition. As a PLA supplier to the PADM Medical Group also expressed his delight at learning about the success of PADM in gaining Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA.

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