Face masks and plastic gloves are being used to reinforce concrete

Nitrile gloves are made of synthetic rubbers, and masks primarily of polypropylene fibres – both of which take 25+ years to biodegrade in landfill due to their resilient makeup. So, on a hunch that both may strengthen concrete in large volumes, the research group mixed items into separate samples and studied the results.

To their delight, the mask sample increased its mixture’s durability by 17% and the blend with rubber gloves achieved an impressive 22% strength increase too.

‘PPE is a fibrous material with remarkable properties of high tensile strength and flexibility,’ says Kilmartin-Lynch, co-author of the study. ‘When under stress, the fibrous material of the PPE bridges the micro-cracks formed in concrete to increase its strength.’

Given we’re hardly lacking for PPE waste at the moment, and there’s quite literally a perpetual demand for concrete, you’d expect that scaling up on a commercial level shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

The team is already working closely with a sustainable building company in Melbourne called Casafico to complete further field tests. Keenly waiting in the wings, concrete suppliers, local hospitals, and waste management companies are expecting the green light to collaborate also.

Before this can begin, one of the final hurdles in the experiment phase involves figuring out how to decontaminate waste PPE en masse – as the tests purely utilised expired items and not used ones. As we stated earlier, nobody is thrilled by the prospect of handling potentially germ-ridden matter.

These stumbling blocks, however, aren’t thought to be a huge problem and medical professionals are said to be providing some solid avenues to the next stage.

Let’s hope that the following tests can finally get PPE concrete off the ground and begin to make a ‘valuable contribution to our circular economy,’ as Lynch says.