The enormous use of the masks during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how their widespread use represents an urgent environmental problem to be addressed with a view to reducing landfilling, but also to find new reuse applications for this type of waste.
The masks, consisting of plastics and fibrous substances, could be successfully recycled for the preparation of materials (with different matrices) for the construction industry. It is imperative, however, to find a method that addresses the most pressing environmental concerns beyond recycling waste, such as the need to find low energy-consuming solutions, while also reducing CO2 emissions for their influence on climate change. For these reasons, all assumptions that include any chemical and thermal treatment, or the incorporation of these wastes into resin-based matrices (not-recyclable and destined for landfill) or cementitious matrices (producing high CO2 emissions).2 for their influence on climate change. For these reasons, all assumptions that include any chemical and thermal treatment, or the incorporation of these wastes into resin-based matrices (non-recyclable and destined for landfill) or cementitious matrices (with high CO2).
The experimental idea proposed in the TIM-MASKVERDE project consists of a preliminary mechanical treatment, which produces fragments of various sizes and shapes, and then the incorporation into a geopolymer matrix, completely inorganic.