It’s clear that the pandemic has produced many unwanted secondary impacts. The actual virus aside, this time period will be long remembered for its catastrophic effect on the economy, mental health, education, and opportunity.
Another pesky problem that’s arisen, unfortunately, is one of pandemic-specific trash: most notably single-use face masks that are littering sidewalks and filling up garbage bins across the world.
But scientists with Australia’s RMIT University wasted no time in trying to uncover ways to safely repurpose some of the 6.8 billion disposable masks that are used each and every day, and the results are surprising: it turns out shredded mask material can be used to build roads.
This particular group of scientists has a track record for finding ways to use trash in road materials and has done so successfully before with items like cigarette butts and tires. In this case, the researchers say face masks can actually offer some unique engineering advantages.
According to a report in New Atlas, the masks are being utilized in a material called recycled concrete aggregate – or RCA – that’s mostly made up of processed building rubble. In this case, the “recipe” is being tweaked and 1% of the traditional RCA is being replaced with the non-woven layers of plastic found in shredded masks.
The scientists are not only able to find a use for the discarded masks that doesn’t involve a landfill or an incinerator, but they also provide a benefit: the end product, which still meets civil engineering standards for road base layers, has improved flexibility over previous formulas. And while a road that’s one percent mask doesn’t sound like it’s making a dent, think of it this way: the scientists say that if their material were used to build a two-way roadway that’s just one kilometer in length, it would divert about 3 million masks from the landfills.
