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EFFECT OF NANOFIBRES RELEASED AS RESPIRATOR WASTE ON VIBRIO FISCHERI
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the production and use of nanotextiles in the form of respirators and face masks due to the Covid-19 situation that has occurred worldwide. From 2023 onwards, the rate of use of this protective equipment is already decreasing again but respirators are still widely used in many countries as a preventive measure against the spread of respiratory diseases. One of the drawbacks of using respirators as respiratory protection was that they were not managed appropriately in terms of production, processing, use and waste management, which lead to environmental pollution. The aim of this paper is to carry out ecotoxicological tests according to current European standards (ISO 11348-3:2007 Water quality - Determination of the inhibitory effect of water samples on the light emission of Vibrio Fischeri (Luminiscent bacteria test) and Czech legislation (Law No. 541/2020 Coll., Waste Act and Decree No. 8/2021 Coll., Waste Catalogue). The first part of the article describes polyvinyldene fluoride (PVDF), which is the base material for the manufacture of tested materials (PP-PVDF-PP, PP-PVDF and Nanovia mask) and also explains why the Vibrio Fischeri bacteria have been chosen to perform the tests. The second part of the paper focuses on the description and results of the experiments carried out, which showed that the fibres released in the aquatic environment do indeed have a toxic effect on the test organisms, as EC50 can be determined for all tested materials since in all cases an inhibition of at least 50 % was achieved.
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