20.500.12556/DKUM-92270 Significant fragmentation of disposable surgical masks—enormous source for problematic micro/nanoplastics pollution in the environment The pandemic of COVID-19 disease has brought many challenges in the field of personal protective equipment. The amount of disposable surgical masks (DSMs) consumed increased dramatically, and much of it was improperly disposed of, i.e., it entered the environment. For this reason, it is crucial to accurately analyze the waste and identify all the hazards it poses. Therefore, in the present work, a DSM was disassembled, and gravimetric analysis of representative DSM waste was performed, along with detailed infrared spectroscopy of the individual parts and in-depth analysis of the waste. Due to the potential water contamination by micro/nanoplastics and also by other harmful components of DSMs generated during the leaching and photodegradation process, the xenon test and toxicity characteristic leaching procedure were used to analyze and evaluate the leaching of micro/nanoplastics. Micro/nanoplastic particles were leached from all five components of the mask in an aqueous medium. Exposed to natural conditions, a DSM loses up to 30% of its mass in just 1 month, while micro/nanoplastic particles are formed by the process of photodegradation. Improperly treated DSMs pose a potential hazardous risk to the environment due to the release of micro/nanoparticles and chloride ion content. DSM micro/nanoparticles leaching artificial weathering environmental pollution mikro/nanodelci izpiranje umetno preperevanje onesnaževanje okolja true false true MDPI AG Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability © 2022 by the authors Članek v reviji 2025-03-26 13:53:31 2025-03-26 13:53:31 2025-03-27 03:11:51 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2022 0 0 str. 1-20 iss. 19 (12625) Vol. 14 Oct. 2022 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2022-07-12 2022-09-30 2022-10-04 677.017:502/504 124689155 10.3390/su141912625 2071-1050 sustainability-14-12625-v4.pdf sustainability-14-12625-v4.pdf 1 66DD46CEEBAE29AC0D9FAAA41CF27F7D 593b1eb5d941b2f3a9e56f1050463afcefcd74714fc519e54b2ab6565e64346d 6354310d-0a42-11f0-af23-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=189679 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12625 1 52d57e12-0a41-11f0-af23-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=189676 Fakulteta za strojništvo 0 0 0