Waste Masks Could Be Used in Road Construction

The pandemic has clearly caused many unwanted secondary effects. Setting aside the actual virus itself, this period will be remembered for its devastating impact on the economy, mental health, education and opportunities. Unfortunately, another troubling problem has emerged—one of the pandemic-specific waste streams: most notably, disposable face masks that litter pavements and fill rubbish bins around the world.   However, scientists at RMIT University in Australia have not wasted time finding ways to safely repurpose some of the 6.8 billion disposable masks used daily, and the results are striking: it turns out that fragmented mask material can be used to build roads. This particular group of scientists has experience in finding ways to use waste in road materials and have done so quite successfully before with substances such as cigarette butts and tyres. In this case, the researchers say that face masks can actually offer some unique engineering advantages. According to a report in New Atlas, masks are being used in a material called recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), which mostly consists of processed building rubble. In this case, the formula is finely adjusted and 1 per cent of conventional RCA is replaced with non-woven plastic layers found in shredded masks. In this way, the scientists are providing a benefit for discarded masks rather than just landfill or incineration solutions. That is, the final product meets construction engineering standards with improved flexibility for road base layers. At first glance, the fact that only one per cent of the manufactured road consists of waste mask may not seem significant. However, if this waste were used to build a two-lane road one kilometre long, approximately 3 million masks would be recovered from the bin instead of being discarded.   Source