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This paper presents a new method for determining the effect of healthy personal protective material (HPPM) stripes, such as surgical masks, protective suits, and overhead and foot covers, on the durability and physicomechanical characteristics of concrete for use in architectural forms. Because of the current global epidemic caused by coronavirus (COVID-19), the use of HPPM, such as surgical masks, protective suits, and overhead and foot covers, has increased considerably. COVID-19's second and third waves are currently affecting various countries, necessitating the use of facemasks (FM). Consequently, millions of single FM have been discharged into the wild, washing up on beaches, floating beneath the seas, and ending up in hazardous locations. The effect of stripe fibers on the physicomechanical characteristics of concrete, such as the workability, Uniaxial Compressive Strength UCS, flexural strength, impact strength, spalling resistance, abrasion resistance, sorptivity, Water absorption Sw, porosity (ηe), water penetration, permeability, and economic and eco-friendly aspects, need to be determined. With a focus on HPPM, especially single-use facemasks, this study investigated an innovative way to incorporate pandemic waste into concrete structures. Scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction patterns were employed to analyze the microstructures and interfacial transition zones and to identify the elemental composition. The HPPM had a pore-blocking effect, which reduced the permeability and capillary porosity. Additionally, the best concentrations of HPPM, particularly of masks, were applied by volume at 0, 1, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5%. The use of mixed fibers from different HPPMs increased the strength and overall performance of concrete samples. The tendency of growing strength began to disappear at approximately 2%. The results of this investigation showed that the stripe content had no effect on the compressive strength. However, the stripe is critical for determining the flexural strength of concrete. The UCS increased steadily between 1 and 1.5% before falling marginally at 2.5%, which indicates that incorporating HPPM into concrete had a significant impact on the UCS of the mixture. The addition of HPPM to the mixtures considerably modified the failure mode of concrete from brittle to ductile. Water absorption in hardened concrete is reduced when HPPM stripes and fibers were added separately in low-volume fractions to the concrete mixture. The concrete containing 2% HPPM fibers had the lowest water absorption and porosity percentage. The HPPM fibers were found to act as bridges across cracks, enhancing the transfer capability of the matrices. From a technological and environmental standpoint, this study found that using HPPM fibers in the production of concrete is viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the household practices developed in the disposal of waste in the city of Mossoró, RN, during the pandemic period. Through an online form with 16 open and closed questions, the research reached 71 people in 21 different neighborhoods and the rural area of the municipality. It was found that most respondents did not know about the selective collection service in their neighborhoods or place of residence, as well as lacked knowledge about the separation of waste. Furthermore, 57% of the people stated that there was an increase in household waste during the pandemic, with 26% pointing to an increase in organic waste and plastic packaging. It is clear, therefore, the importance of the performance of the state and municipal sphere in the management of solid waste and compliance with the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS). Strategies for the operationalization of socio-environmental policies must also be developed in times of crisis, since selective collection was paralyzed during the COVID-19 pandemic, harming the associations of recyclable waste pickers and the management of solid waste, since this material ended up in the local landfill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a global emergency and also has raised issues with waste management practices. This study emphasized the challenges of increased waste disposal during the COVID-19 crisis and its response practices. Data obtained from the scientific research papers, publications from the governments and multilateral organizations, and media reports were used to quantify the effect of the pandemic towards waste generation. A huge increase in the amount of used personal protective equipments (facemasks, gloves, and other protective stuffs) and wide distribution of infectious wastes from hospitals, health care facilities, and quarantined households was found. The amount of food and plastic waste also increased during the pandemic. These factors caused waste treatment facilities to be overwhelmed, forcing emergency treatment and disposals (e.g., co-disposal in a municipal solid waste incinerator, cement kilns, industrial furnaces, and deep burial) to ramp up processing capacity. This paper discussed the ways the operation of those facilities must be improved to cope with the challenge of handling medical waste, as well as working around the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. The study also highlights the need for short, mid, and longer-term responses towards waste management during the pandemic. Furthermore, the practices discussed in this paper may provide an option for alternative approaches and development of sustainable strategies for mitigating similar pandemics in the future. [Display omitted] • COVID-19 exhibited great challenges and practices on waste management. • The discarded facemask was estimated during COVID-19 pandemic. • Immediate responses and technological approach for COVID-19 crisis were reviewed. • MSW incinerator, industrial furnace, cement kiln can be used as emergency disposal. • Short and mid-longer term responses in waste management were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused a global health crisis, but it has also had significant environmental and human consequences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this study focused on emerging challenges in managing healthy personal protective materials (HPPM) in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, using silty sand (SM) soil as an example since it covers large areas in KSA and in the whole world. The main objective of this paper is to find a novel way to minimize pandemic-related waste by using HPPM as waste materials in road construction. For the first time, a series of experiments was conducted on a mixture of different percentages of shredded HPPM (0, 0.5, 1 and 2%) added to the silty sand (SM) soil for road applications, including soil classification according to the USCS, modified compaction, UCS, UPV, and CBR. In addition, a numerical simulation was performed using geotechnical-based software Plaxis 3D to study the performance of the soil-HPPM mix as a subbase layer in the paving structure under heavy traffic loading. The modified compaction test results show that there is an increase in the optimum moisture content with increasing the HPPM contents from 0.5% to 1% and 2%. However, a reduction in the maximum dry density is observed. The values of dry density and water content at 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% pf HPPM are 2.045, 1.98, 1.86 and 1.8 g/cm3 and 7.65% 8%, 8.5% and 9.5%, respectively. The soaked CBR values at 0, 0.5, 1 and 2% HPPM are 23, 30, 8, 2% with the maximum value attained with the addition of 0.5% HPPM. The results of UCS were with the same percentages of HPPM 430, 450, 430 and 415 kPa, respectively, with the maximum value attained with 0.5% HPPM addition as well. In contrast, the values of UVP at 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% are 978.5, 680.3, 489.4 and 323.6 m/s, respectively, confirming the trends obtained by modified compaction test results. The simulation results confirm this conclusion that the soil-HPPM mix show a superior performance when used as a subbase layer and reduced vertical displacement by a percentage of 11% compared to the normal subbase material. By eliminating HPPM especially facemasks from the landfill lifecycle, incorporating them into high quality construction material production has the potential to deliver significant environmental benefits. [Display omitted] 1 Influence of polypropylene (HPPM) fibres on the performance of sandy soil is clearly studied. 2 The optimum fibres content is obtained as 0.5% volume fraction. 3 Positive improvement is also noticed in unconfined compressive strength and compaction after adding HPPM fibres. 4 Fibres play a major role in crack bridging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ongoing global pandemic due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), specifically single-use surgical masks, have been on a sharp incline. Currently, many countries are experiencing second and third waves of COVID-19 and as such have resorted to making face masks a mandatory requirement. The repercussions of this have resulted in millions of single-use face masks being discharged into the environment, washing up on beaches, floating beneath oceans and ending up in vulnerable places. The global pandemic has not only affected the economy and health of the world's population but now is seriously threatening the natural environment. The main plastic in single-use face masks is polypropylene which in landfill can take more than 25 years to break down. This paper explores an innovative way to use pandemic waste in concrete construction with the main focus on single-use face masks. Single-use masks have been cut-up by first removing the ear loops and inner nose wire to size and spread throughout five different mix designs to explore the possible benefits and uses within concrete. The masks were introduced by volume at 0% (control), 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20% and 0.25% with testing focusing on compressive strength, indirect tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and ultrasonic pulse velocity to test the overall quality of the concrete. The introduction of the single-use face masks led to an increase in the strength properties of the concrete samples, as well as an increase in the overall quality of the concrete. However, beyond 0.20%, the trend of increasing strength began to decrease. • An innovative method is proposed to alleviate the waste generation issue associated with COVID-19. • The disposed surgical masks can be used to improve the strength of concrete. • The inclusion of 0.20% by volume of shredded surgical masks to concrete provided the highest strength properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, municipal authorities especially in the developing nations are battling to select the best health care waste (HCW) disposal technique for the effective treatment of the medical wastes during and post COVID-19 era. As evaluation of various disposal alternatives of HCW and selection of the best technique requires considering various tangible and intangible criteria, this can be framed as multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In this paper, we propose an assessment framework for the selection of the best HCW disposal technique based on socio-technical and triple bottom line perspectives. We have identified 10 criteria on which the best HCW disposal techniques to be selected based on extant literature review. Next, we use Fuzzy VIKOR method to evaluate 9 HCW disposal alternatives. The effectiveness of the proposed framework has been demonstrated with a real-life case study in Indian context. To check the robustness of the proposed methodology, we have compared the results obtained with Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution). The results help the municipal authorities to establish a methodical approach to choose the best HCW disposal techniques. Our findings indicate that incineration is the best waste disposal technique among the available alternatives. Even if the dataset indicates 'incineration' is the best method, we must not forget about the environmental concerns arising from this method. In COVID time, incineration may be the best method as indicated by the data analysis, but "COVID" should not be an excuse for causing "Environmental Pollution". • Health care waste disposal technique selection is a serious concern during COVID-19. • We propose Fuzzy VIKOR based method for selecting the best disposal technique. • This work has been grounded on Triple Bottom Line and Socio-Technical perspectives. • The proposed framework has been validated with a real-life case study. • The effectiveness of the proposed method has been compared with Fuzzy TOPSIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of healthcare waste from different patient care activities in hospitals, pathology labs and research centres has been a matter of great concern for environmental and social bodies across the world. This concern comes from its infectious and hazardous nature which brings life taking disease such as human immunodeficiency virus and Hepatitis-B. Moreover, with the outbreak of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic across the world, healthcare waste has become even more infectious like never before and showing its potential for claiming lives if not disposed properly. Additionally, the COVID-19 has put up another challenge in terms of exponentially increasing demand for personal protective equipments for healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, ward boys, and sanitation workers. In this paper, seven criteria related to smart healthcare waste disposal system infused by circular economy aspects to recover value from disposables are identified and analysed using a decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The criteria have been prioritized by its importance and net cause and effect relationship through a causal diagram. Two criteria, (i) digitally connected healthcare centres, waste disposal firms and pollution control board, and (ii) providing a pollution control board's feedback app to public and other stakeholders, feature as strong reasons for a smart healthcare waste disposal system. Conclusively, this study provides a causal relationship model among the intertwined drivers of industry 4.0 and circular economy for developing a smart healthcare waste disposal system enriched with the benefits of circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]