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UIWANG, South Korea: How many disposable masks does it take to make one stool?
Kim Ha-neul knows it takes 1,500.
Annoyed by the waste caused by disposable masks, many of which are made from polypropylene, the South Korean furniture design student has found an eco-friendly solution, melting them together to make stools that he calls “Stack and Stack.”
“Plastic is recyclable, so why don’t we recycle the masks, which are made of plastic?” the 23-year-old said.
In June, Kim installed a mask collection box at his school, Kaywon University of Art and Design in Uiwang City, south of Seoul. Since then, he has collected 10,000 used masks and has also received over a ton of defective masks from a factory.
To reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus, Kim stores them for at least four days. Then, removing the rubber bands and cables, he wields a heat gun over the masks in a mold, melting them at temperatures above 300 degrees Celsius.
READ: South Korea rushes to build container hospital beds to combat third wave COVID-19
The result? 45cm three-legged stools recycled from white, pink, blue and black masks, which Kim exhibited at her graduation show.
Next, Kim hopes to make other pieces of furniture from the recycled masks, like a chair, a table, or some lights. He is also urging the government and private companies to recycle the masks by creating a separate box for his collection.
In September alone, South Korea produced more than 1 billion face masks for home use, government data showed.
READ: Plastic pandemic: COVID-19 shattered the dream of recycling
Although the stools are not for sale yet, fellow students were impressed with the idea and the rough surface design.
“It has such a strong message,” said 20-year-old art student Park Sung-chan. “This will remind us of what we have been through in 2020 with the coronavirus and it is also ecological.”
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