500 Reusable facemasks for may 6 elections

I delivered 500 reusable, washable Thames Ditton Boomerang Bag Face Masks to Rob Moran, Elmbridge Council's Chief  Executive at the Civic Centre on Monday. 

These will be offered to all the officers and volunteers working in polling stations throughout Elmbridge on election day, May 6 and at the subsequent count, as a more sustainable option than the single-use type, made with plastic. Rob was thrilled with the donation and has written to me to say: 

“Thank you for dropping off the 500 masks for the elections.  An even bigger thank you to the sewing team for such remarkable masks, such volume and such wonderful sewing expertise and quality.  They are truly outstanding products and I will need to be vigilant to stop them disappearing before we make them available for the elections staff.  I have already noticed a few have dipped in and are wearing them around the office! Please pass on my thanks to the team and also my appreciation for making so many masks. I am certain they will be snapped up and will be a colourful part of our Covid-safe elections on 6th, 7th and 8th May.  We will underline the environmental messages so that people appreciate where they have come from and the wider and deeper reuse/recycle purpose message".

The Thames Ditton Boomerang Bag sewing bees have made literally thousands of reusable face masks from donated fabric over the Covid-19 period, and this initiative will continue, as long as they are needed by the community, for protection from the virus. The free TDBB face masks have been handed out so far to teachers/ support staff in local schools, community groups, residents and staff in care homes, sheltered staff housing units, to shop staff and EBC officers/volunteers working in meals on wheels/community services throughout the Borough etc.

This municipal year, our Elmbridge Residents Group/Lib-Dem Administration endorsed the message of the importance of choosing a reusable face mask over a single-use type (in all situations excluding medical situations where PPE is necessary) to help raise awareness of the problem of plastic pollution. This supports EBC’s Single-Use Plastic Action Plan. Currently 1.6 billion single-use face masks (made with plastic derived from fossil fuels which take up to 450 years to biodegrade), go to landfill in the UK every single month.

This anti single-use plastic stance, adopted by EBC and promoted by our Administration,  is in line with our announcing a Climate Emergency as a Borough in 2019, when I was very proud to second the motion. 

I am attaching some photos of the TDBB reusable Face Masks, to show what 500 looks like, the photo of the face masks on the table are in piles of ten