Reutilizing Single-Use Surgical Face Masks to Improve the Mechanical Properties of Concrete: A Feasibility Study

The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has caused a sharp increase in the use of Single-Use Surgical Face Masks (SUSFMs) as personal protective equipment. These eventually end up in waste disposal facilities causing environmental pollution. Those that end up in the water bodies fragment into microplastics that affect marine life. Since the SUSFM materials are made from polypropylene, a thermoplastic polymer material that takes a long time to degrade, it is important to develop sustainable mitigation measures to remove them from the environment. This study investigated the feasibility of reutilizing SUSFMs in concrete. SUSFMs were shredded and added to C30/37 grade concrete in various percentages, 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, and 3.0%, by mass of cement content. The specimens were cured for 28 days before being tested for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The compressive strength decreased with an increase in the length and dosage content. The least decrease of 10.4% was observed at 0.5% content of 30mm length of SUSFM material. The results showed that concrete improved regarding splitting tensile strength, with the highest increase of 15.2% at 0.5% content of 30mm SUSFM. In addition, the overall quality of concrete remains at UPV values of more than 4000m/s registering good quality concrete. The results underscore the use SUSFM material in concrete in order to improve its quality while at the same time reducing waste.