Published
Jan 27, 2021
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Designer Lakshmi Menon repurposes PPE waste to make mattresses

Published
Jan 27, 2021

Fashion designer Lakshmi Menon is using her brand Shayya to repurpose personal protective equipment scraps and waste fabric to create cheap, hygienic bedrolls to reduce waste and provide resources. 

Shayya mattresses made from PPE scraps - Shayya- Facebook


Shayya, which means ‘bed’ in Sanskrit, is distributing its mattresses across India with a focus on Kerala and collecting waste textiles from Indian PPE factories to continue its initiative, it announced on Facebook. By braiding together fabric scraps, Shayya creates lightweight mattresses which designer Menon was inspired to develop after seeing children sleeping on the roadside.  
 
“Through some of my friends, I got to know that units making PPE are struggling to dispose of the waste generated,” Menon told The News Minute.

“I was already in the process of making bedrolls with cloth at that time, but then this idea of making similar bedrolls using PPE scrap struck me.”
 
Menon has sent Shayya bed rolls to Covid-19 treatment centres in India, as well as to homeless individuals and shelter homes. The bed rolls are easier to disinfect than traditional mattresses according to Menon, which makes them ideal for medical centres.  
 
As India is the world’s second largest PPE manufacturer according to The Guardian, PPE waste is a significant environmental concern for the country. Using PPE scraps is not only a solution to this problem, they are also softer and have less dust than other fabric scraps, according to Menon. 

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