1. Introduction
In accordance with data published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic has swept through 237 countries, with nearly 435 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 5.9 million deaths (WHO, 2022). During this highly contagious-novel pandemic, the use of PPE, especially wearing masks and gloves, is essential to achieve the goal of a flat epidemiological curve (Anastopoulos and Pashalidis, 2021; Sangkham, 2020). Ali et al. (2017) stated that approximately 0.5 kg of medical waste per hospital bed daily, including examination gloves, were generated in developed countries, while in developing countries, it is 0.2 kg/bed/day. Sefouhi et al. (2013) found that more than 1100 kg of healthcare wastes, including gloves, were generated every day in the hospital of Batna, Algeria. According to statistical data from Victorian public healthcare services, before the COVID-19 pandemic (in 2010-2011), more than forty thousand tonnes of solid waste, including gloves, were generated by the public healthcare services of the state of Victoria in Australia and only 20% were recycled. The cost to dispose of these wastes was almost $17 million (Department of Health, Victoria, 2021). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (in the period 2014-2019), the production of disposable gloves usually had an annual increase of about 6% in Poland. However, since the COVID-19 outbreak, the production of gloves has increased by 30% in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 (Jędruchniewicz et al., 2021). Even before the pandemic, gloves were in high demand not only for medical activities but also for other activities such as cleaning, beauty, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automotive, electronics, construction, laboratories and others (Telugunta et al., 2021). It was estimated that in June 2020, 65 billion gloves were being used each month globally (Prata et al., 2020). Furthermore, WHO estimates that 89 million medical masks, 76 million disposable examination gloves, and 1.6 million pairs of goggles will be required each month globally to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (WHO, 2020). These numbers can be dated back to before the mandatory wearing of PPE was enforced worldwide. Therefore, the global consumption of gloves is estimated to be more than 76 million every month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The global demand for nitrile gloves is estimated to increase at a compound annual rate of 10.6%-11.2% until 2027 (Patrawoot et al., 2021). In 2021, it was predicted that the market size for nitrile gloves would be worth about 8.76 billion USD. The market for nitrile gloves was evaluated at about 8.76 billion USD in 2021 and was anticipated to increase at an annual rate of 5.7% between 2022 and 2030 (Grand View Research, 2022). Based on the information mentioned above, the gloves will still be in high demand even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
Among the various disposable gloves available, nitrile examination gloves and natural rubber latex gloves are widely used in medical applications (Safe Work Australia, 2020). Furthermore, several studies indicated that nitrile medical gloves could be a suitable alternative to latex gloves (Jędruchniewicz et al., 2021). Since the onset of the pandemic, medical facilities and personal protection efforts worldwide have consumed huge amounts of PPE and generated large volumes of medical waste, where face masks and nitrile gloves are the primary sources of these wastes (Ilyas et al., 2020). The indiscriminate use and improper disposal of medical waste have posed a severe threat to the environment and the health of individuals and wildlife (Boroujeni et al., 2021; Sharma et al., 2020). Millions of disposable waste PPE, including gloves, are discarded in parking lots, sidewalks, parks, roadways, and other public places, eventually finding their way to aquatic environments such as puddles, ponds, and lakes (Sarkodie and Owusu, 2021; Wang et al., 2022), leading to the clogging of sewage systems, negatively affecting the infiltration of water, and reducing land productivity to name a few environmental issues (Silva et al., 2021). Plastic waste, including plastic-based waste PPE, scattered in the aquatic environment can become a breeding ground for pests that transmit diseases such as dengue and Zika. The plastic waste eventually makes its way into oceans and other water bodies, where they gradually deteriorate and break up, producing microplastic particles. Microplastic particles are easily ingested by marine animals, causing blockage and permanent damage to their internal organs (Roychand and Pramanik, 2020; Monira et al., 2021). They also pose the risk of entering the human food chain as humans feed on the aforementioned marine life (Kilmartin-Lynch et al., 2021b, 2022). Currently, incineration is known as one of the easiest ways to dispose of medical waste because the high temperature (over 800 degrees Celsius) can destroy pathogens. However, incineration of medical waste is not recommended since large amounts of greenhouse gases and harmful substances such as heavy metals, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, and furans are emitted during this process (Silva et al., 2021). Therefore, based on the explanations mentioned above, it can be reflected that all of this will add to the quantity of waste requiring disposal, adding an additional burden to the environment and public exchequer for its disposal. This waste can be sustainably recycled into strengthening pavement subgrade contributing to increasing the recycling rate of this medical waste material.
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Expansive clay soils are widely distributed throughout the earth (Blayi et al., 2020; Steinberg, 2000). Expansive clays vary significantly in volume with changes in moisture content. High compressibility, high potential for expansion and contraction, high plasticity, low permeability, and low shear strength are the distinctive characteristics of these problematic soils (Li et al., 2014). Expansive clays expand dramatically after immersion in water and shrink when they dry out (Khadka et al., 2020). Rainfall, evaporation, and root activity can all trigger changes in the moisture content of expansive soils (Li and Cameron, 2002). Thus, buildings and civil infrastructures on expansive clays often undergo considerable movements due to the soil moisture changes, resulting in displacement, cracking, tilting, or failure. Because of the inferior engineering characteristics of expansive clays, engineering projects such as pavements, railways, and embankments constructed on these poor-quality soils run the risk of premature failure, and they encounter considerable difficulties during construction (Zheng et al., 2009; Sun et al., 2015). Failures of lightly-loaded structures due to the swelling behaviour of expansive soils have been reported worldwide, which lead to severe financial losses and burdens (Zumrawi, 2015). Furthermore, pavements constructed on expansive clays are ten times more expensive to maintain than the same type of roadway built on a non-expansive subgrade (Singh et al., 2016). Chemical stabilisation is commonly used to control the expansive soils on site. Cement and lime are two of the most widely used additives for expansive soil stabilisation (Ghadir et al., 2021). However, cement and lime treatments have a number of inherent disadvantages, such as expensive, carbonation, sulfate attack and environmental concerns due to greenhouse gas emissions. Cement is the source of about 8% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Therefore, a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable alternative is needed to improve the performance of expansive soil (Perera et al., 2022).
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There are numerous studies regarding the utilisation of plastic fibres and strips in improving the mechanical properties of problematic soils. It has been indicated that the addition of various kinds of synthetic fibres such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) helps in improving the strength, ductility, and other geotechnical properties of soils (Shen et al., 2017; Yarbaşi and Kalkan, 2020). However, to the authors’ best knowledge, very limited research has been carried out in pavement geotechnics regarding plastic-based PPE wastes. Saberian et al., 2021a, Saberian et al., 2021b conducted experimental studies on the use of shredded single-use face masks blended with recycled concrete aggregates as road base and subbase. The results showed that the ductility/flexibility of pavement base/subbase improved by introducing the shredded face masks. In addition, the inclusion of the shredded face masks enhanced unconfined compressive strength and resilient modulus because the shredded masks increased the tensile resistance of the mixed samples. According to the research conducted by Rehman and Khalid (2021), both the UCS and CBR of face mask fibre-reinforced fat clay reached the peak value with the introduction of 0.9% face mask fibre. They pointed out that the reasons for the enhancement were the excellent resistance of face mask fibres to fracture and the improved tensile capacity of the soil that resisted deformations. Abdullah and Abd El Aal (2021) evaluated the effect of PPE plastic-based waste on road construction. They found that adding 5% shredded plastic-based PPE waste fragments to the silty sand improved the compressive strength and penetration strength, further revealing that such an improvement was induced by the bridging effect of the PPE waste fragments. Shobana et al. (2021) presented that the inclusion of face masks and banana fibre increased the strength of black cotton soil.
The main aim of this study is to evaluate the technical possibility of using disposable nitrile gloves as a sustainable approach to stabilise and strengthen the expansive clay subgrade. This paper consists of six sections. Section 1 contains the introduction, background of the study and literature review of previous research. Section 2 summarises the significance of the research. Section 3 includes evaluating the geotechnical properties of clay soil and the physical properties of the nitrile glove. Sample preparation and testing methodology are discussed in Section 4. Section 5 provides the testing results, including standard proctor compaction, UCS, CBR, RLT, swelling-shrink, SEM, and X-ray micro-CT tests. Section 6 summarises the main conclusions of this paper and also provides recommendations for future studies.
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