ID :
38338
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 20:56
Auther :

ECOGLOVE TARGETS EUROPEAN MARKET FOR REUSABLE GLOVES

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 (Bernama) -- EcoGlove, the producer of world's first
reusable gloves, is targeting the European market, its board member/adviser Dr
Lin See Yan said.

Lin said the company could offer high volume users of conventional
disposable gloves better quality ones at a cheaper cost and at the same time
reduce the wastes that were now destined for landfills

"They will be in the market soon. We have finished most of our tests. The
final test will now be the buyers' market.

"We have already tested them in Penang and they worked well. We are
confident of signing our first contract soon," he told Bernama in an interview.

He said the gloves were 100 percent clean.

"A machine using cold plasma technology sterilises the gloves," he said.

On why he ventured into the reusable gloves sector, Lin, who was also former
Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's Central Bank), said he
followed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's strategy that "our manufacturing
processes must have innovation in order to value add and encourage
entrepreneurship."

Another thing, he said, was because of the green movement.

He said most people did not like wastes and the Europeans in particular,
would like to see things that were recyclable.

Lin said the market for gloves globally was huge.

"The world uses 140 billion gloves and the industry is worth US$7 billion or
more. The main thing is that you use and you throw away," he said.

He said the biggest users, over 40 percent, were in the food sector.

"Can you imagine 140 billion gloves worldwide? They are not biodegradable so
they end up in landfills," he said.

Lim said the company was concentrating on latex gloves to re-energise the
rubber industry.

"The prices are good. I think we need to diversify. The other gloves use
synthetic rubber," he said.

On the difference between EcoGlove's gloves and others, he said: "Firstly
other gloves had become very fragile.

"You ask the doctors, especially at the hospitals. They use more than one
gloves because it breaks. Ours can be used seven times.

"We are producing the gloves which are washable at the same time. It can
also be washed in the washing machine and recycled so that you won't waste," he
said.

He said the gloves made by the company were also traceable.

"Not long ago, the Health Ministry of Canada made a press statement that
gloves imported from Malaysia were found to have larvae and worms.

"That is not acceptable obviously. To ensure that every pair of gloves are
traceable, the company has placed a two-dimensional barcode on the
gloves.

"This bar code will tell us where the latex comes from, the history of the
gloves, how many times the gloves have been used and we are able to tell whether
the gloves are ours or somebody else's," he said.

Lin said EcoGlove worked with Rubber Research Instititue (RRI) to come out
with the gloves.

"The gloves are slightly thicker," he said, adding that "me and RRI share a
patent for this glove."
-- BERNAMA

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