University in Melbourne, Australia, have carried out a study to show how disposable face masks could be recycled to make roads and hard bricks. According to the researchers, this could be a viable alternative to deal with pandemic-generated waste. Their study demonstrated that using the recycled face mask material to make just one km of a two-lane road would use up about 3 million masks, preventing 93 tonnes of waste from going to landfill. For this, the researchers have developed a new road-making material that is a mix of shredded single-use face masks and processed building rubble designed to meet civil engineering safety standards. Their findings show that the face masks help to add stiffness and strength to the final product, designed to be used for base layers of roads and pavements.
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