(TAN): Vulnerable members in communities across 12 cities in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka will soon have greater access to reusable face masks with the regional Linens For Life Face Masks (L4LFM) partnership between Shangri-La Group and Diversey, a global hygiene solutions provider, the hotel group said in a statement.
As part of the L4LFM programme, 12,500 kg of used linen donated by 21 Shangri-La hotels will be repurposed into reusable fabric face masks by local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Colombo, Hambantota, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Surabaya, Jakarta, Cebu, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok and Yangon.
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In some cities such as Yangon, Manila, Johor Bahru, Jakarta, Surabaya and Bangkok, the upcycling of masks will also generate employment opportunities for members in low socio-economic community groups.
The half-a-million face masks will be distributed to local communities, to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The upcycling of clean, used linen into face masks also provides Shangri-La a meaningful way to help reduce environmental wastage. If new linen was produced to manufacture this quantity of fabric masks, it would have incurred 60 million litres of water (the equivalent of 23 Olympic-size swimming pools) and a carbon footprint of 150 tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 63,000 litres of petrol being burnt.
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Chan Kong Leong, regional CEO for Shangri-La Group in Southeast Asia & Australasia, said: “At Shangri-La, we have dedicated our last 50 years to caring for our guests, colleagues and local communities. Just as we have elevated our cleaning and safety protocols in our hotels as part of our “Shangri-La Cares” commitment to our guests and colleagues, we are heartened to be able to continue helping and caring for the communities around us throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The Linens For Life Face Masks programme provides clear health, social and environmental benefits for communities during these challenging times. Not only does it give our used hotel linen a new lease of life, it also provides the most vulnerable with a basic piece of protection and helps sustain livelihoods.”
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