October 3 (News 18) – Sri Lankan authorities have embarked on an innovative initiative to promote the Ceylon Tea brand during the global Covid-19 pandemic by distributing ‘tea dyed’ face masks to the international business community.
According to the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB), the face masks which have undergone a value addition process with the usage of the Ceylon Tea dye, a by-product of iced tea manufacturing, is reusable up to 30 washes, reports the Daily Mirror newspaper.
The masks are natural antimicrobial (AATCC 100), bio-degradable, eco-friendly, and non-toxic.
The Ceylon Tea branded face masks are distributed on a complimentary basis in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
The SLTB said arrangements have been made to dispatch the branded face masks to over 75 Sri Lankan missions around the world who would distribute the product to the end-users.
The business of face masks has been booming ever since the coronavirus pandemic making it one of the most essential and indispensable commodities of 2020.
Even as Sri Lanka uses it as a tool for soft diplomacy, many have been using it to make political points as well as to create unprecedented mask art.
A bespectacled Japanese artist, for instance, recently created a face mask that had the 3-D model of a bowl of ramen noodles on top in order to complement his glasses that were constantly getting fogged by the mask. when someone wearing glasses would wear the mask, it would look like their glasses are fogged due to the piping hot ramen.
In the United States, face masks even became a political and electoral issue with the Republicans (led by Donald Trump) downplaying the importance of wearing them for months. Trump recently tested positive from coronavirus after he contracted it from his close aide Hope Hicks, at Tuesday’s Presidental debate. As you might already have guessed, Hicks was not wearing a mask.
(With inputs from IANS)
