31 July 2024
ICAM 2023’s Educational Sessions
Hello again,
We are particularly glad that you consider our presentation THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE FIRST REUSABLE MEDICAL-GRADE MASKS: THE MOTIVATIONS OF FRËTT SOLUTIONS in your ICAM-CIMU 2023’s Educational Sessions Schedule.
Québec City Convention Centre
SATURDAY the 15th of April
at 3:00 PM Room # 308A
(Educational Sessions Rooms Level3)
PART1: FROM CRAZY FOR PLASTIC TO SICK WITH PLASTIC: THE NEW SILENT PANDEMIC
By using a practically eternal material to manufacture most of the single-use items, humanity got the planet saturated with plastic by accumulation within the course of one century. This global problem gained lots of interest in the last decade and research shows there is not a single compartment or organism on Earth which is not contaminated with plastic particles of all sizes, some of them so fine they can penetrate blood, placenta or breast milk.
We are just at the dawn of understanding the influence of plastic pollution on human and ecosystemic health, but a new pathology, plasticosis has already been described.
(https://etrema.ca/en/plasticosis-the-other-silent-pandemic/)
(With a focus on the case of the single-use surgical mask during the pandemic, but also before and after)
PART2: FROM REUSABLE TO SINGLE-USE TO REUSABLE AGAIN
We got so used to throw away consumables after a few seconds to a few hours that we can hardly imagine functioning otherwise. However, history shows that the need for single-use was mostly created and is thus not a fatality – even in medicine – and the present shows that a sustainable and durable growth require durable goods.
(With a focus on how disposable surgical masks and that they are single-use for many reasons)
PART 3: OUR ANSWER, THE ëncore TECHNOLOGY
With our cutting-edge innovative filtration media, we enabled the missing link between the single-use medical mask, effective in protection, comfort and convenience but ecologically disastrous and the regular fabric mask, reusable but way too weak in filtration and/or respirability. The real challenge was to add durability to particle filtration efficiency and respirability to keep an unmatched level of performances and protection for at least 100 washes in a maximized respect of resources and environment. It took all the help of submicronic physics to achieve it.
PART 4: OUR OTHER BIG PLUS, THE MEDICAL CERTIFICATION(S)
The lack of guarantee on the performance of reusable masks has been a major restraint to their deployment as replacements to the single-use ones. That’s why we devoted a lot of time and energy to certifications until being approved as Medical Device by Health Canada, among others.
Testing has been omnipresent and crucial al along the development process of both the encore filtration technology and the etrëma masks. To the point where it became a research topic itself, and it became obvious that if PPEs are to evolve, how they are tested must too.
PART 5: BEYOND MEDICAL MASKS, THE 1001 USES OF THE ëncore TECHNOLOGY
There is an incredibly wide range of possible uses for a robust, highly breathable, highly effective on fine particles filtration media, lots of them in the medical field.
PART 6: IMAGINE… A CLEANER AND HEALTHIER FUTURE
Imagine a new pandemic without single-use PPEs’ shortage, or massive plastic pollution…
Imagine a world where the health system is not a massive contributor to GHG and plastic waste generation…
Imagine a world where more than 98% of all plastic is saved in the manufacturing of filtration media…
You may say we are dreamers, but we are not the only ones, and we hope you will join us!
You can also visit us for a nice chat and to remake the world together at our booth # 501 (level 2)
-Antoine Palangié and Michelle Secours
WHO ARE WE?
Michelle Secours is the president and founder of FRËTT SOLUTIONS.
She initially studied cinema and communication before graduating as a designer from the school for Fashion at Marie-Victorin College in Montreal. Since 1997, she has been the owner of FRËTT DESIGN, FRËTT SOLUTIONS’ mother company, a big name for ethical and eco-responsible textiles and clothing in the province of Quebec. Deeply engaged in environmental protection, Michelle made the reduction of the textile industry’s impacts the main mission for the FRËTT group. The etrëma® line and its ëncore® technology are a logical outcome for 25 years of Michelle’s and her partners’ commitment to sustainable development and social progress in the textile and fashion industries.
Antoine Palangié BEng, MSc, PhDc oversees all science – including scientific communication – at FRËTT SOLUTIONS.
He graduated in France as a process engineer specialized in waste and effluent treatment. A real environmental enthusiast and avid traveller, he quickly realized that this end-of-the-pipe vision would not suffice, and he completed this training with a master in sustainable development which brought him to Mali for studying surface water pollution in sub-Saharan cities. After a few years as a consultant and research engineer in Europe, he flew to Montreal to start his North American life and his PhD in ecological engineering on artificial wetlands in Nordic climate. Antoine then worked 6 years as a scientific journalist to raise public awareness on environment challenges, and launched ELIPTO, a first-of-its-kind company using drones as eco-efficient data collection tools.
