The government has disposed of more than 3bn items of personal protective equipment (PPE) it bought during the pandemic, figures have revealed. An estimated 3.14bn items have been shed through a mixture of recycling, energy from waste processes – including some incineration – donations and sales. Data from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in England showed that up to 28 February, 269,500 pallets of PPE had been removed from its stock. The document revealed that while 19,600 pallets were recycled (1.47bn items), 131,900 pallets were sent to make energy from waste (1.4bn). An additional 6,100 pallets of PPE were donated to other countries and for events such as the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. It comes just months after Tory ministers were accused of making a “pitiful attempt” to recoup taxpayers’ money wasted on fraudulent Covid contracts. The criticism came after it emerged that only a fraction of the estimated total had been recovered so far. About £18m has been retrieved by the DHSC through checks on PPE contracts identified as “high risk” and through “contract management”. Will Quince, a health minister, said the figure was correct as of 12 December, and stressed that the government was working to “prevent loss”. However, the amount of taxpayers’ money clawed back is significantly less than that believed to have been lost through PPE fraud. The government has faced repeated criticism over its handling of acquiring PPE during the pandemic, including the purchase of useless items. Last year, the Commons public accounts committee said the government had lost 75% of the £12bn it spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic to inflated prices and kit that did not meet requirements – including £4bn of PPE that could not be used in the NHS.