Wilberforce reusable mask goes public

To kick-off 2022, Hans Yang (12W) and WANBO have been greeted with great news as Tsunami Sports will be launching the Wilberforce reusable mask, designed by Hans, to the general public.

WANBO’s reusable mask initiative started in Green Week 2021 in which a reusable mask design competition was launched. Under the theme of “House Spirit”, the initiative aimed to combat the growing amounts of disposable/single use masks waste generated as a result of the pandemic. Before the initiative began, 82% of the student body at Island School used a disposable mask on a daily basis. This would mean that if 82% of Island School students only used one mask a day then 923 masks would be disposed of everyday.

Hans won the Wilberforce house mask design with a sleek graphic that incorporates the iconic Hong Kong skyline and the house mascot: ducks. Hans said, “I tried to create a design that resembles Hong Kong as a city, especially the iconic landmarks and buildings. I went for a more simplistic design, with mostly geometrical shapes in different vibrant colours to represent structures and diversity, and a dark background to provide contrast.”

Dana Winograd of Plastic Free Seas as well as a Wilberforce parent, has done a number of charity engagements for her NGO and received many comments about how people from outside Island School could purchase Hans’ mask, because at that time sales were only limited to Island school community. So after discussing with Tsunami Sports, the company has agreed to manufacture the Wilberforce house mask and sell it to the general public. Tsunami will also support Plastic Free Seas by giving 5% of the sales value, with the majority of this funding going towards their school education programme.

Hans in his mask design

Furthermore, Hans has given his design to Tsunami for free in order to support Plastic Free Seas saying “I am glad that I’m able to make a positive impact on the environment by any means and support NGOs in their mission.”

Ms Winograd is thrilled with this initiative: “I was very excited when I saw the fabulous mask design of the HK skyline from Wilberforce. I knew that people would love the design as much as I do, and that it would encourage more people to use reusable masks.”

“To solve the problem of plastic pollution, we should stop using not only one-off plastic products such as plastic bottles and cutlery on a regular basis, but reduce the usage of disposable face masks as they are filling our landfill and littering the environment,” continued Ms Winograd.

Hans also echoed saying: “Replacing masks has integrated into our daily habit and it only feels natural to do so for health and safety reasons. The pollution caused by the daily disposal of single use masks should be addressed more.”

A huge congratulations to Hans for this wonderful achievement. We certainly can’t wait to see the mask in the wider public!

For more regular updates and announcements on ongoing initiatives, as well as opportunities for students to get involved in WANBO’s initiatives, please email your campus’ WANBO Heads/Deputy Heads.

Sha Tin Wai: chanan.ng@online.island.edu.hk or ady.lam@online.island.edu.hk

Tai Wai: katrina.hon@online.island.edu.hk or alexandra.lai@online.island.edu.hk

You can also follow our Instagram page @iswanbo to be notified.

Article by Ethan Yap (13W)