In response to the pandemic, Indorama Ventures Public Company (IVL), a global chemical company, is transforming post-consumer PET bottles into much-needed PPE suits. The PPE suits have been donated to local hospitals in need of equipment to protect local medical personnel working to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand.

Initiated by Less Plastic Thailand in May this year, the “Separate PET Bottles to Help Doctors” project brings together a range of local partners and their stakeholders to complete the end-to-end waste separation and PPE production process. Under the project, approximately 360,000 PET bottles have been recycled and converted into high-quality yarn at IVL's recycling facilities in Nakhon Pathom and Rayong, and later cut to produce more than 16,000 PPE suits. The project aims to deliver these protective suits to over 200 hospitals nationwide by August 2020 to protect medical personnel from COVID-19 infection during the performance of their duties.

HSBC Thailand, the country’s first commercial bank, participated as a PET collection point, encouraging all staff to donate empty drinking bottles to the cause.