Calgary and Winnipeg facilities to manufacture compostable personal protective equipment

File photo (shutterstock.com)

CALGARY -

Compostable personal protective equipment (PPE) will begin being manufactured in Calgary and Winnipeg later this year.

Two manufacturing facilities are being set up — one in Calgary, and one in Winnipeg — which is expected to create up to 350 jobs, officials said.

The Calgary factory will be a high-volume, automation-driven, non-woven manufacturing plant which will create compostable masks, gowns and other medical equipment.

The two companies responsible for the production are Precision Advanced Digital Manufacturing and Roswell Downhole Technologies. A release earlier this week says Precision Advanced Digital Manufacturing acquired Roswell Downhole Technologies to manufacture the PPE.

The three-ply, plant-based mask design by Roswell and Precision is said to be 100 per cent compostable.

The companies won a Canadian contest to create a compostable material.

Precision ADM specializes in producing medical equipment, and Roswell manufactures tubing and capsuling cable for the oil patch.

Over the last year-and-a-half, Roswell has transitioned to making products for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Precision and Roswell claim the production and distribution of these masks will reduce green house gas emissions in Canada. They also claim the product will fall in line with Paris Climate Accord expectations.

Each package of masks will come with a certified carbon offset sticker.

The challenge to create compostable materials and manufacture them in Canada was approved by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.