Fortum: The Handle With Care

Clean-energy company Fortum joins forces with the biggest retail chain in Finland to fight the topical Covid-19 pandemic. Fortum Vipu - a sustainable hands-free door handle made of Fortum Circo recycled plastic - is piloted starting from Monday 20th of April in Helsinki, to prevent further spread of the virus. Fortum is the biggest manufacturer of recycled plastic in the Nordics. Together with their agency TBWAHelsinki, they designed Fortum Vipu: a supplement enabling you to open doors with your arm, thus avoiding infections. The entire product design process from concept to piloting was squeezed into just five weeks. Public places are hot spots for contagious diseases and good hand hygiene is key in preventing infections. To help in the ongoing fight against the pandemic, Fortum, a clean-energy company and the consumer plastic packaging recycler in Finland developed the handle, Fortum Vipu (Virus Prevention Unit). Made out of Fortum Circo®, a versatile recycled raw material produced of consumer plastic packaging waste that is sorted and collected from Finnish households, the handle gives waste plastic a new life all whilst protecting people. It’s a simple add-on to existing door handles, allowing people to open doors with their arm, minimising touching the handles with their palms and fingers.