FIFTY new jobs are set to be created in the York area through plans to manufacture the world’s first 100 per cent compostable three-ply face mask - which could save not only lives but also the environment.

Two Yorkshire entrepreneurs, Brian Hammond and Mark Bennett, have invested their life savings to produce revolutionary eco-friendly masks which can help reduce the plastic mountain left in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic caused by conventional masks.

A spokeswoman said Henosis Masks were a plant-based product with no petrol-based additives and the microplastics contained in varieties currently on the market could take up to 400 years to break down once they were discarded.

She said the company was already in talks with buyers in the UK and around the world to provide masks and trialling high quality branded masks for multi-national companies and sporting venues.

The firm was currently looking for new premises to house the extra manufacturing capacity needed and had been looking for premises around York, because its current Leeds base was not big enough.

“Their expansion will provide 50 new jobs over the course of 2021,” she added.

Mr Bennet, operations director and former operations director for York Mail in Elvington, where he increased turnover from £2 million to £120 million, said: “It’s early days but we are looking at premises in and around York and we’d be delighted to be able to bring much needed jobs to the city.”

He said of the firm’s product: “After you’ve finished with Henosis Masks, you can throw them in your garden hot composter and they’ll be ready to fertilise your garden in about 12 weeks, so in just a few short months, the mask you wear could be helping your garden grow.

“Masks are part of our daily life now but how many times have you seen them discarded? Littering pathways?

“Add to that the carbon footprint of purchasing cheap, inferior masks from China and the Far East by air and sea.”