Recycling COVID-19 health care wastes in bitumen modification: a case of disposable medical gloves.

Disposable medical gloves (DMGs) have long been used to mitigate the risk of direct exposure to diverse microorganisms and body fluids; hence, they are a critical weapon to protect patients and healthcare staff from infectious diseases. Measures to control the spread of COVID-19 have sparked the production of an excessive number of DMGs, most of which are eventually being disposed of in landfills. Untreated DMGs in landfills do not only pose a direct risk of transmitting coronavirus and other pathological germs but also pollute air, water, and soil dramatically. As a healthier alternative, recycling discarded polymer-rich DMGs into bitumen modification is considered to be a prospective waste management strategy applicable to the asphalt pavement industry. In this study, this conjecture is tested by examining two common DMGs - latex gloves and vinyl gloves - at four different percentages (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% by weight). The morphological characteristics of DMG-modified specimens were inspected by using a high-definition scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX). A wide range of laboratory tests including penetration, softening point temperature, ductility, and elastic recovery were undertaken to evaluate the impact of waste gloves on the conventional engineering properties of bitumen. Moreover, viscoelastic behavior and modification processing were studied by conducting the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) test and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Test results have revealed the outstanding potential of recycled DMG waste for modifying neat asphalt binder. More specifically, bitumens modified with 4% latex glove and 3% vinyl glove were seen as capable of superiorly withstanding permanent deformations caused by heavy axle loads at high service temperatures. Furthermore, it has been shown that 1.2 tons of modified binder would embed approximately 4000 pairs of recycled DMGs. This study shows that DMG waste can be used as a viable modifier, which would help open a new avenue for mitigating the environmental pollution arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A prospective study to evaluate CO2 emission mitigation strategies for highway transportation.

Ranking as one of the largest mobility modes for passengers and freight, highway transportation globally accounts for huge amounts of fossil-based energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Correspondingly, on-road transportation causes detrimental effects on air quality, climate change, and global warming, particularly over the short term. In order to prevent a further escalation of this detrimental environmental issue, long-term efficacious policies aimed at reducing the transportation-driven CO2 emission should be urgently enacted and implemented on a global scale. Thus, this paper presents an exploratory study with the main objective of investigating the impact of four adopted mitigation scenarios that suggest switching to Euro 6 vehicle emission standards, increasing the average urban traffic speed limits, encouraging public transport, and increasing the proportion of hybrid electric vehicles. This study then compared and contrasted each strategy and its subgroups with a reference scenario projected for the year 2025. The evidence from this research showed that transition to Euro 6 compliant vehicles significantly decarbonizes the transportation sector, yet more vehicle electrification is required to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement targets. The results also indicate that by 2025, a 10% shift from passenger cars to public transport will decrease CO2 emissions by 3%, whilst increasing the urban traffic speed by 10 km/h will yield a 1.38% CO2 gas emission saving.