Abstract
After more than two years wearing surgical masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, used masks have become a significant risk for ecosystems, as they are producing wastes in huge amounts. They are a potential source of disturbance by themselves and as microplastic contamination in the water system. As 5500 tons of face masks are estimated to be used each year, there is an urgent need to manage them according to the circular economy principles and avoid their inadequate disposal. In this paper, surgical wear masks (WM), without any further pretreatment, have been introduced as addition to mortars up to 5% in the weight of cement. Mechanical and microstructural characterization have been carried out. The results indicate that adding MW to the cement supposes a decrease in the properties of the material, concerning both strength and durability behavior. However, even adding a 5% of WM in weight of cement, the aspect of the mortars is quite good, the flexural strength is not significantly affected, and the strength and durability parameters are maintained at levels that—even lower than the reference—are quite reasonable for use. Provided that the worldwide production of cement is around 4.1 Bt/year, the introduction of a 5% of WM in less than 1% of the cement produced, would make it possible to get rid of the mask waste being produced.
Highlights
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have started wearing surgical masks in order to take precautionary measures, which has dramatically increased the amount of waste created [1,2]
Face masks are a source of microplastic contaminants in water ecosystems [5,6,7,8,9] and in indoor and outdoor air [10,11], as polypropylene and other plastics—polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyethylene, or polyester, among others—are used in making face masks
Some voices are claiming that the circular economy principle should guide policy making for the management of medical waste and, single-use face masks [13,14,15,16,17,18,19]
Summary
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have started wearing surgical masks in order to take precautionary measures, which has dramatically increased the amount of waste created [1,2]. Face masks are a source of microplastic contaminants in water ecosystems [5,6,7,8,9] and in indoor and outdoor air [10,11], as polypropylene and other plastics—polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyethylene, or polyester, among others—are used in making face masks. This constitutes a big problem related to health for different living beings, including humans and the environment as a whole [12]. A life cycle analysis of single-use and reusable face masks can be found in [20]
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