GAiA - Zero Waste Green Made Antimicrobial Filtering Face Piece Fibers for Augmented Individual Protection

The zero waste Green made Antimicrobial filtering face piece fibers for augmented IndividuAl protection (GAiA) project aims to manufacture fibers for face filtering piece (FFP) fabrication loaded with antimicrobial systems produced with sustainable electrospinning (ES) processes and with the possibility of composting at the end of use. The objective is to produce FFPs that not only protect the user from pathogens’ infection, but that can also guarantee protection for an extended time, eliminating cross contamination problems and the production of polluting and potentially dangerous waste. The pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) demonstrated the need for billions of FFP because surgical face masks have been shown to effectively inhibit the passage of infecting agents from the environment to the wearer and vice versa. Thus, the protection of the respiratory system is still the simplest and the most convenient strategy to avoid infection and to minimize viral spreading. At the same time, single use FFP consumption left behind another great burden, that is the global increase in the use of plastics for their making processes which consequently also drastically increased medical waste. As a result, there is a surge in plastic pollution from discarded masks with a high impact on the environment also considering that the majority of FFPs is made from non-biodegradable plastics and that most of the countries use incineration as a key method for their disposing, producing a high number of toxic gases and increasing the greenhouse effect due to CO2 release. Moreover, discarded masks may contain a high number of microorganisms and viruses that could mean an increase of secondary transmission of diseases, thereby raising the demand for the safe disposal of used masks. Therefore, it is in paramount to increase the efficiency, lifetime, and reusability of face masks for better protection of the users, meanwhile minimizing the negative environmental impacts. In this project we want to tackle those issues all together by presenting an exit strategy based on the fabrication of sustainable electrospun non-woven filters charged with antimicrobial particles for FFPs manufacturing. Following the concepts of green chemistry approach, we will be using two polymers readily dissolvable in water and degradable once disposed, i.e. PolyVinyl Alcohol (PVA) and PolyAcrylic Acid (PAA), as precursors for the electrospun non-woven fabrication. Before electrospinning, the as made solution will be loaded with novel BioGlasses (BGs) functionalized by adding specific ions already validated for their antimicrobial properties. Eventually fabricating, after an esterification step, zero waste green made antimicrobial filtering face piece fibers for augmented individual protection (GAiA).