Like many efforts underway, Battelle’s project was barely an idea three weeks ago. The company had used vaporized hydrogen peroxide to sterilize sensitive equipment for years. But to develop a large-scale decontamination process, the logistics were hurriedly sketched out on a conference room table by a handful of experts and executives.

Battelle’s West Jefferson site has since received scores of face coverings, double-bagged and stored in boxes marked with biohazard symbols. Health care networks like OhioHealth and Mercy Health are delivering their used masks by trained couriers. Recently, the chief of a local fire department dropped off masks in person.

Up to 50 boxes, containing thousands of masks, show up every day. The number of boxes is expected “to grow exponentially” as hospitals work out safe collection procedures, said Kevin Sayers, who is helping to oversee the West Jefferson operation. In early April, Gov. DeWine said that Battelle would decontaminate masks for free for two weeks.

Preparing newly arrived masks for decontamination requires small teams of workers in the tents, each wearing black rubber boots, two layers of gloves, surgical scrubs, a lab coat and a portable, powered air purifying respirator attached to a belt that blows filtered air into a closed hood over the worker’s head.