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Life cycle assessment (LCA) along with a survey on epidemiologic and oxidative potential studies was used for analysing the current evidence of the impact of airborne emissions from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) on human health. The correspondence among investigated health outcomes and pollutants was discussed based on the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). LCA indicated the ability of MSWI in avoiding human health impact, about - 2 × 10 -4 DALY/tonne together with avoided emissions of particulate matter (PM) and resource depletion, about - 2.5 × 10 -3  kg Sb eq /tonne and about - 0.11 kg PM 2.5  eq/tonne, respectively. Positive emissions were detected for greenhouses (about 900 kg CO 2eq /tonne) and ecotoxicity (about 15,000 CTUe/tonne). Epidemiologic studies performed on population exposed to MSWI reported quite contrasting results. In some of these, hazard ratio (HR) ranging from about 0.7 to 2.2 was reported concerning the incidence of stomach, liver, breast and bladder cancer. Larger agreement was detected concerning the incidence of larynx and lung cancer with HR ranging from about 1 to about 2.6. Direct causal nexuses were not definitively identified. Oxidative potential of PM was characterized by a high Pearson correlation > 0.8 to the presence of CrVI, Cu and Zn. These heavy metals were also identified by both CAS and IARC as toxic (i.e. Cu and Zn) and cancerous (i.e. CrVI) substances affecting the organs of both respiratory and digestive apparatus. In general, even if more research is necessary, LCA, oxidative potential and the epidemiologic survey results showed a high level of accordance. This suggests their integrated exploitation for supporting the investigation of both direct and indirect consequences on environment and health related to waste incineration for both retrospective and predictive studies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study explores for the first time the potential use of carbonation as a method for managing cork ash, a byproduct of biomass waste incineration. Additionally, the cork ash was combined with fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration to leverage the carbonation reaction's ability to stabilize heavy metals. The findings suggest that subjecting biomass ash to carbonation can lead to the formation of mineral carbonates, effectively capturing CO 2 and reducing its release into the atmosphere. The combination of various alkaline wastes and the stabilization of leachable heavy metals through carbonation reactions also opens opportunities for synergies between different industrial sectors. Finally, the study proposes a route for the obtained materials valorisation via 'end of waste': the reuse of the resulting materials as substitutes for natural resources, particularly in applications like building materials and polymer composites, can further enhance carbon dioxide savings., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Elza Bontempi is on the Advisory Board of the Heliyon Environment section., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in industrial and consumer applications for ages. The pervasive and persistent nature of PFAS in the environment is a universal concern due to public health risks. Experts acknowledge that exposure to high levels of certain PFAS have consequences, including reduced vaccine efficacy, elevated cholesterol, and increased risk of high blood pressure. While considerable research has been conducted to investigate the presence of PFAS in the environment, the pathways for human exposure through food and food packaging/contact materials (FCM) remain unclear. In this review, we present an exhaustive overview of dietary exposure pathways to PFAS. Also, the mechanism of PFAS migration from FCMs into food and the occurrence of PFAS in certain foods were considered. Further, we present the analytical techniques for PFAS in food and food matrices as well as exposure pathways and human health impacts. Further, recent regulatory actions working to set standards and guidelines for PFAS in food packaging materials were highlighted. Alternative materials being developed and evaluated for their safety and efficacy in food contact applications, offering promising alternatives to PFAS were also considered. Finally, we reported on general considerations and perspectives presently considered., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

This study delves into the repercussions of the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, particularity its impact on air pollution. A year post-event, it is evident that scientific literature has paid limited attention to monitoring the situation. However, the release of hazardous substances, such as asbestos, lead, and other toxins, from damaged structures poses a significant threat by contaminating nearby air, soil, and water sources, thereby jeopardizing ecosystems and public well-being. The improper disposal of waste post-earthquake and the presence of mining and oil refinery sites in the region contribute to potential air pollutants. These circumstances create challenging environments conducive to the spread of respiratory diseases, with potential long-term health and social consequences. Unfortunately, existing data gaps hinder a comprehensive understanding of the situation. This paper pioneers the reporting and analysis of data regarding potential sources of air pollution resulting from the earthquake in Turkey. It also pinpoints gaps in knowledge, outlining areas that demand further investigation. To effectively prevent and mitigate air pollution risks and associated health concerns linked to earthquakes, strategic recommendations are proposed. A key suggestion is the establishment of post-disaster air pollution monitoring systems capable of swiftly identifying emerging health issues, facilitating efficient responses, and curtailing potential long-term effects of the disaster. The paper underscores the necessity for continuous health monitoring of the affected population to mitigate possible adverse impacts on human health. These strategies play a pivotal role in reducing the likelihood of air pollution, supporting emergency response and recovery initiatives, and fostering new dedicated scientific studies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The improper management of solid waste, particularly the dumping of untreated municipal solid waste, poses a growing global challenge in both developed and developing nations. The generation of leachate is one of the significant issues that arise from this practice, and it can have harmful impacts on both the environment and public health. This paper presents an overview of the primary waste types that generate landfill leachate and their characteristics. This includes examining the distribution of waste types in landfills globally and how they have changed over time, which can provide valuable insights into potential pollutants in a given area and their trends. With a lack of specific regulations and growing concerns regarding environmental and health impacts, the paper also focuses on emerging contaminants. Furthermore, the environmental and ecological impacts of leachate, along with associated health risks, are analyzed. The potential applications of landfill leachate, suggested interventions and future directions are also discussed in the manuscript. Finally, this work addresses future research directions in landfill leachate studies, with attention, for the first time to the potentialities that artificial intelligence can offer for landfill leachate management, studies, and applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world and Europe is classified as the first producer in terms of per capita amount. To reduce the environmental impact of e-waste, it is important to recycle it. This work shows the possibility of reusing glassy substrates, derived from the MW-assisted acidic leaching of Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs), as an adsorbent material. The results revealed an excellent adsorption capability against methylene blue (MB; aqueous solutions in the concentration range 10 -5 M-2 × 10 -5 M, at pH = 7.5). Comparisons were performed with reference samples such as activated carbons (ACs), the adsorbent mostly used at the industrial level; untreated PCB samples; and ground glass slides. The obtained results show that MW-treated WPCB powder outperformed both ground glass and ground untreated PCBs in MB adsorption, almost matching AC adsorption. The use of this new adsorbent obtained through the valorization of e-waste offers advantages not only in terms of cost but also in terms of environmental sustainability.

Globally, substantial research into endophytic microbes is being conducted to increase agricultural and environmental sustainability. Endophytic microbes such as bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi inhabit ubiquitously within the tissues of all plant species without causing any harm or disease. Endophytes form symbiotic relationships with diverse plant species and can regulate numerous host functions, including resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses, growth and development, and stimulating immune systems. Moreover, plant endophytes play a dominant role in nutrient cycling, biodegradation, and bioremediation, and are widely used in many industries. Endophytes have a stronger predisposition for enhancing mineral and metal solubility by cells through the secretion of organic acids with low molecular weight and metal-specific ligands (such as siderophores) that alter soil pH and boost binding activity. Finally, endophytes synthesize various bioactive compounds with high competence that are promising candidates for new drugs, antibiotics, and medicines. Bioprospecting of endophytic novel secondary metabolites has given momentum to sustainable agriculture for combating environmental stresses. Biotechnological interventions with the aid of endophytes played a pivotal role in crop improvement to mitigate biotic and abiotic stress conditions like drought, salinity, xenobiotic compounds, and heavy metals. Identification of putative genes from endophytes conferring resistance and tolerance to crop diseases, apart from those involved in the accumulation and degradation of contaminants, could open new avenues in agricultural research and development. Furthermore, a detailed molecular and biochemical understanding of endophyte entry and colonization strategy in the host would better help in manipulating crop productivity under changing climatic conditions. Therefore, the present review highlights current research trends based on the SCOPUS database, potential biotechnological interventions of endophytic microorganisms in combating environmental stresses influencing crop productivity, future opportunities of endophytes in improving plant stress tolerance, and their contribution to sustainable remediation of hazardous environmental contaminants., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

In conjunction with global climate change, progressive ocean warming, and acclivity in pollution and anthropogenic eutrophication, the incidence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) continue to expand in distribution, frequency, and magnitude. Algal bloom-related toxins have been implicated in human health disorders and ecological dysfunction and are detrimental to the national and global economy. Biomonitoring programs based on traditional monitoring protocols were characterised by some limitations that can be efficiently overdone using the CRISPR/Cas technology. In the present review, the potential and challenges of exploiting the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas technology for early detection of HABs and CHABs-associated toxigenic species were analysed. Based on more than 30 scientific papers, the main results indicate the great potential of CRISPR/Cas technology for this issue, even if the high sensitivity detected for the Cas12 and Cas13 platforms represents a possible interference risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Carcinogenic metals affect a variety of cellular processes, causing oxidative stress and cancer. The widespread distribution of these metals caused by industrial, residential, agricultural, medical, and technical activities raises concern for adverse environmental and human health effects. Of these metals, chromium (Cr) and its derivatives, including Cr(VI)-induced, are of a public health concern as they cause DNA epigenetic alterations resulting in heritable changes in gene expression. Here, we review and discuss the role of Cr(VI) in epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, micro-RNA changes, biomarkers of exposure and toxicity, and highlight prevention and intervention strategies to protect susceptible populations from exposure and adverse occupational health effects. Cr(VI) is a ubiquitous toxin linked to cardiovascular, developmental, neurological, and endocrine diseases as well as immunologic disorders and a high number of cancer types in humans following inhalation and skin contact. Cr alters DNA methylation levels as well as global and gene-specific histone posttranslational modifications, emphasizing the importance of considering epigenetics as a possible mechanism underlying Cr(VI) toxicity and cell-transforming ability. Our review shows that determining the levels of Cr(VI) in occupational workers is a crucial first step in shielding health problems, including cancer and other disorders. More clinical and preventative measures are therefore needed to better understand the toxicity and safeguard employees against cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Modern society has increasingly a diffusion of pollutants and emerging contaminants (e.g., different types of chemicals and endocrine disruptors in pharmaceuticals, pesticides, household cleaning, and personal care products, etc.) that have detrimental effects on the environment (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and anthroposphere) and also generate diseases and disorders on the people health. Environmental science requires efforts in the detection and elimination of manifold pollutants and emerging pollutants with appropriate product and process technologies. This study aims to analyze different paths of treatment technologies to investigate their evolution and predict new directions of promising technological trajectories to support the removal of contaminants directed to reach, whenever possible, sustainable development objectives. The work is mainly devoted to wastewater treatment technologies. A proposed model analyzes the evolution of patents (proxy of innovation and new technology) on publications (proxy of science and knowledge advances) to quantify the relative growth rate of new trajectories of technologies to remove pollutants and emerging contaminants. Results reveal that new directions of treatment technologies having an accelerated rate of growth are (in decreasing order): biochar and reverse osmosis in physical-based technologies, coagulation, and disinfection water treatments in chemical-based technologies and anaerobic processes in biological-based technologies. Other main technologies, such as carbon nanotubes and advanced oxidation processes, seem to be in the initial phase of development and need learning by using processes and further science and technology advances to be implemented as effective treatments and cost-effective methods. The results here show similar trends to global market revenue in water and wastewater treatment technologies. These findings bring us to the main information to extend the knowledge about new directions of technologies for the treatment and/or elimination of pollutants and microorganisms in order to support decisions of policymakers towards goals of sustainable development by reducing environmental degradation and people health disorders., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The carbonation of alkaline industrial wastes is a pressing issue that is aimed at reducing CO 2 emissions while promoting a circular economy. In this study, we explored the direct aqueous carbonation of steel slag and cement kiln dust in a newly developed pressurized reactor that operated at 15 bar. The goal was to identify the optimal reaction conditions and the most promising by-products that can be reused in their carbonated form, particularly in the construction industry. We proposed a novel, synergistic strategy for managing industrial waste and reducing the use of virgin raw materials among industries located in Lombardy, Italy, specifically Bergamo-Brescia. Our initial findings are highly promising, with argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) slag and black slag (sample 3) producing the best results (70 g CO 2 /kg slag and 76 g CO 2 /kg slag, respectively) compared with the other samples. Cement kiln dust (CKD) yielded 48 g CO 2 /kg CKD. We showed that the high concentration of CaO in the waste facilitated carbonation, while the presence of Fe compounds in large amounts caused the material to be less soluble in water, affecting the homogeneity of the slurry.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognised variant B.1.1.529 of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as a variant of concern, termed "Omicron", on November 26, 2021. Its diffusion was attributed to its several mutations, which allow promoting its ability to diffuse worldwide and its capability in immune evasion. As a consequence, some additional serious threats to public health posed the risk to undermine the global efforts made in the last two years to control the pandemic. In the past, several works were devoted to discussing a possible contribution of air pollution to the SARS-CoV-2 spread. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there are still no works dealing with the Omicron variant diffusion mechanisms. This work represents a snapshot of what we know right now, in the frame of an analysis of the Omicron variant spread. The paper proposes the use of a single indicator, commercial trade data, to model the virus spread. It is proposed as a surrogate of the interactions occurring between humans (the virus transmission mechanism due to human-to-human contacts) and could be considered for other diseases. It allows also to explain the unexpected increase in infection cases in China, detected at beginning of 2023. The air quality data are also analyzed to evaluate for the first time the role of air particulate matter (PM) as a carrier of the Omicron variant diffusion. Due to emerging concerns associated with other viruses (such as smallpox-like virus diffusion in Europe and America), the proposed approach seems to be promising to model the virus spreading., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The carbonation of alkaline wastes is an interesting research field that may offer opportunities for CO 2 reduction. However, the literature is mainly devoted to studying different waste sequestration capabilities, with lame attention to the reliability of the data about CO 2 reduction, or to the possibilities to increase the amount of absorbed CO 2 . In this work, for the first time, the limitation of some methods used in literature to quantify the amount of sequestered CO 2 is presented, and the advantages of using suitable XRD strategies to evaluate the crystalline calcium carbonate phases are demonstrated. In addition, a zero-waste approach, aiming to stabilize the waste by coupling the use of by-products and the possibility to obtain CO 2 sequestration, was considered. In particular, for the first time, the paper investigates the differences in natural and accelerated carbonation (NC and AC) mechanisms, occurring when municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash is stabilized by using the bottom ash with the same origin, and other by-products. The stabilization mechanism was attributed to pozzolanic reactions with the formation of calcium silicate hydrates or calcium aluminate hydrate phases that can react with CO 2 to produce calcium carbonate phases. The work shows that during the AC, crystalline calcium carbonate was quickly formed by the reaction of Ca(OH) 2 and CaClOH with CO 2 . On the contrary, in NC, carbonation occurred due to reactions also with the amorphous Ca. The sequestration capability of this technology, involving the mixing of waste and by-products, is up to 165 gCO 2 /Kg MSWI FA, which is higher than the literature data., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The ubiquitous distribution of plastics and microplastics (MPs) and their resistance to biological and chemical decay is adversely affecting the environment. MPs are considered as emerging contaminants of concern in all the compartments, including terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric environments. Efficient monitoring, detection, and removal technologies require reliable methods for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of MPs, considering point-of-need testing a new evolution and a great trend at the market level. In the last years, portable spectrometers have gained popularity thanks to the excellent capability for fast and on-site measurements. Ultra-compact spectrometers coupled with chemometric tools have shown great potential in the polymer analysis, showing promising applications in the environmental field. Nevertheless, systematic studies are still required, in particular for the identification and quantification of fragments at the microscale. This study demonstrates the proof-of-concept of a Miniaturized Near-Infrared (MicroNIR) spectrometer coupled with chemometrics for the quantitative analysis of ternary mixtures of MPs. Polymers were chosen representing the three most common polymers found in the environment (polypropylene, polyethene, and polystyrene). Daily used plastic items were mechanically fragmented at laboratory scale mimicking the environmental breakdown process and creating "true-to-life" MPs for the assessment of analytical methods for MPs identification and quantification. The chemical nature of samples before and after fragmentation was checked by Raman spectroscopy. Sixty three different mixtures were prepared: 42 for the training set and 21 for the test set. Blends were investigated by the MicroNIR spectrometer, and the dataset was analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square (PLS) Regression. PCA score plot showed a samples distribution consistent with their composition. Quantitative analysis by PLS showed the great capability prediction of the polymer's percentage in the mixtures, with R 2 greater than 0.9 for the three analytes and a low and comparable Root-Mean Square Error. In addition, the developed model was challenged with environmental weathered materials to validate the system with real plastic pollution. The findings show the feasibility of employing a portable tool in conjunction with chemometrics to quantify the most abundant forms of MPs found in the environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics have raised social issues regarding the potential rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan and risks associated with the safe organization of mega sporting events during the pandemic, such as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. This study investigates the Tokyo Summer Olympics as a unique case study to clarify the drivers of infectivity and provide guidelines to host countries for the safe organization of subsequent international sporting events. The result here reveals that Tokyo and Japan did not experience a rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19 due to the hosting of the Summer Olympics. Still, transmission dynamics seems to be mainly driven by the high density of population (about 1.2%, p-value <0.001) like other larger cities in Japan (result confirmed with Mann-Whitney U test, significance at 0.05). Our study provided evidence that hosting mega sporting events during this COVID-19 pandemic is safe if strictly maintained the precautions with non-pharmaceutical (and pharmaceutical) measures of control of infections. The Tokyo Summer Olympics hosting will be exemplary for next international events due to the successful implementation of preventive measures during COVID-19 pandemic crisis., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The emergence of novel respiratory disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become a public health emergency worldwide and perturbed the global economy and ecosystem services. Many studies have reported the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental compartments, its transmission via environmental routes, and potential environmental challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. None of these studies have comprehensively reviewed the bidirectional relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and the environment. For the first time, we explored the relationship between the environment and the SARS-CoV-2 virus/COVID-19 and how they affect each other. Supporting evidence presented here clearly demonstrates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in soil and water, denoting the role of the environment in the COVID-19 transmission process. However, most studies fail to determine if the viral genomes they have discovered are infectious, which could be affected by the environmental factors in which they are found.The potential environmental impact of the pandemic, including water pollution, chemical contamination, increased generation of non-biodegradable waste, and single-use plastics have received the most attention. For the most part, efficient measures have been used to address the current environmental challenges from COVID-19, including using environmentally friendly disinfection technologies and employing measures to reduce the production of plastic wastes, such as the reuse and recycling of plastics. Developing sustainable solutions to counter the environmental challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic should be included in national preparedness strategies. In conclusion, combating the pandemic and accomplishing public health goals should be balanced with environmentally sustainable measures, as the two are closely intertwined., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

COVID-19 pandemic has led to the generation of massive plastic wastes, comprising of onetime useable gloves, masks, tissues, and other personal protective equipment (PPE). Recommendations for the employ of single-use disposable masks made up of various polymeric materials like polyethylene, polyurethane, polyacrylonitrile, and polypropylene, polystyrene, can have significant aftermath on environmental, human as well as animal health. Improper disposal and handling of healthcare wastes and lack of proper management practices are creating serious health hazards and an extra challenge for the local authorities designated for management of solid waste. Most of the COVID-19 medical wastes generated are now being treated by incineration which generates microplastic particles (MPs), dioxin, furans, and various toxic metals, such as cadmium and lead. Moreover, natural degradation and mechanical abrasion of these wastes can lead to the generation of MPs which cause a serious health risk to living beings. It is a major threat to aquatic lives and gets into foods subsequently jeopardizing global food safety. Moreover, the presence of plastic is also considered a threat owing to the increased carbon emission and poses a profound danger to the global food chain. Degradation of MPs by axenic and mixed culture microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, microalgae etc. can be considered an eco-sustainable technique for the mitigation of the microplastic menace. This review primarily deals with the increase in microplastic pollution due to increased use of PPE along with different disinfection methods using chemicals, steam, microwave, autoclave, and incineration which are presently being employed for the treatment of COVID-19 pandemic-related wastes. The biological treatment of the MPs by diverse groups of fungi and bacteria can be an alternative option for the mitigation of microplastic wastes generated from COVID-19 healthcare waste., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Microplastics pollution is major threat to ecosystems and is impacting abiotic and biotic components. Microplastics are diverse and highly complex contaminants that transport other contaminants and microbes. Current methods to remove microplastics include biodegradation, incineration, landfilling, and recycling. Here we review microplastics with focus on sources, toxicity, and biodegradation. We discuss the role of algae, fungi, bacteria in the biodegradation, and we present biotechnological methods to enhance degradation, e.g., gene editing tools and bioinformatics., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interestThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

There are several recycling methods to treat discharged lithium-ion batteries, mostly based on pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical approaches. Some of them are promising, showing high recovery efficiency (over 90%) of strategic metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. However, technological efficiency must also consider the processes sustainability in terms of environmental impact. In this study, some recycling processes of spent lithium-ion batteries were considered, and their sustainability was evaluated based on the ESCAPE "Evaluation of Sustainability of material substitution using CArbon footPrint by a simplifiEd approach" approach, which is a screening tool preliminary to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The work specifically focuses on cobalt recovery comparing the sustainability of using inorganic or organic acid for the leaching of waste derived from lithium-ion batteries. Based on the possibility to compare different processes, for the first time, some considerations about technologies optimization have been done, allowing proposing strategies able to save chemicals. In addition, the energy mix of each country, to generate electricity has been considered, showing its influence on the sustainability evaluation. This allows distinguishing the countries using more low-carbon sources (nuclear and renewables) for a share of the electricity mix, where the recycling processes result more sustainable. Finally, this outcome is reflected by another indicator, the eco-cost from the virtual pollution model 99' proposed by Vogtländer, which integrates the monetary estimation of carbon footprint.

Microorganisms are an important component of the ecosystem and have an enormous impact on human lives. Moreover, microorganisms are considered to have desirable effects on other co-existing species in a variety of habitats, such as agriculture and industries. In this way, they also have enormous environmental applications. Hence, collections of microorganisms with specific traits are a crucial step in developing new technologies to harness the microbial potential. Microbial culture collections (MCCs) are a repository for the preservation of a large variety of microbial species distributed throughout the world. In this context, culture collections (CCs) and microbial biological resource centres (mBRCs) are vital for the safeguarding and circulation of biological resources, as well as for the progress of the life sciences. Ex situ conservation of microorganisms tagged with specific traits in the collections is the crucial step in developing new technologies to harness their potential. Type strains are mainly used in taxonomic study, whereas reference strains are used for agricultural, biotechnological, pharmaceutical research and commercial work. Despite the tremendous potential in microbiological research, little effort has been made in the true sense to harness the potential of conserved microorganisms. This review highlights (1) the importance of available global microbial collections for man and (2) the use of these resources in different research and applications in agriculture, biotechnology, and industry. In addition, an extensive literature survey was carried out on preserved microorganisms from different collection centres using the Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS. This review also emphasizes knowledge gaps and future perspectives. Finally, this study provides a critical analysis of the current and future roles of microorganisms available in culture collections for different sustainable agricultural and industrial applications. This work highlights target-specific potential microbial strains that have multiple important metabolic and genetic traits for future research and use., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ever since its discovery in 1957, Corynebacterium glutamicum has become a well-established industrial strain and is known for its massive capability of producing various amino acids (like L-lysine and L-glutamate) and other value-added chemicals. With the rising demand for these bio-based products, the revelation of the whole genome sequences of the wild type strains, and the astounding advancements made in the fields of metabolic engineering and systems biology, our perspective of C. glutamicum has been revolutionized and has expanded our understanding of its strain development. With these advancements, a new era for C. glutamicum supremacy in the field of industrial biotechnology began. This led to remarkable progress in the enhancement of tailor-made over-producing strains and further development of the substrate spectrum of the bacterium, to easily accessible, economical, and renewable resources. C. glutamicum has also been metabolically engineered and used in the degradation/assimilation of highly toxic and ubiquitous environmental contaminant, arsenic, present in water or soil. Here, we review the history, current knowledge, progress, achievements, and future trends relating to the versatile metabolic factory, C. glutamicum. This review paper is devoted to C. glutamicum which is one of the leading industrial microbes, and one of the most promising and versatile candidates to be developed. It can be used not only as a platform microorganism to produce different value-added chemicals and recombinant proteins, but also as a tool for bioremediation, allowing to enhance specific properties, for example in situ bioremediation., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Groundwater is considered as the primary source of water for the majority of the world's population. The preponderance of the nation's drinking water, as well as agricultural and industrial water, comes from groundwater. Groundwater level is becoming increasingly challenging to replenish due to climate change. Fertilizer application and improper processing of industrial waste are the two major anthropogenic drivers of groundwater pollution. Arsenic and cadmium are two of the principal heavy metal pollutants that have affected groundwater quality by human activity. When people are exposed to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic contaminants for an extended period, toxic effects might occur. It can have detrimental health effects from long-term exposure to contaminants, even in low amounts. As a result, metal contamination concentrations and fractions can be used to determine potential health concerns. At the same time, contaminants also need to be removed or converted to harmless products by groundwater remediation. Remediation of groundwater quality can be accomplished in several ways, including natural and artificial means. The purpose of this review is to explore a wide range of factors that affect groundwater quality, including their possible health effects. This communication provides state-of-the-art information about remediation approaches for groundwater contamination including hindrances and perspectives in this area of research. The in-depth information provided in different sections of this communication would expand the scope of interdisciplinary research., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted several countries, with also some differences at local levels. When lockdown restrictions were imposed, the concentrations of some air pollutants were reduced, as reported in some other cities in the world. This was often considered a positive by-product of the pandemic. However, often literature reporting the connection of air quality (AQ) and lockdown, suffers of limited and incomplete data analysis, not considering, for example, some confounding factors. This work presents a methodology, and the results of its application, to assess the impact of pandemic restrictions on AQ (in particular nitrogen oxides, NO 2 and particulate matter, PM 10 ) in spring 2020 in Brescia, located in one of the most affected areas in terms of virus diffusion and in one of the most polluted areas in Europe (Po Valley, Italy). In particular, the proposed methodology integrates data and AQ modelling simulations to distinguish between the changes in the PM 10 and NO 2 pollutants concentration that occurred due to the restriction measures and due to other factors, like spatial-temporal characteristics (for example the seasonality), meteorological factors, and governmental actions that were introduced in the past to improve the air quality. Results show that NO 2 is strongly dependent to traffic emission. On the contrary, although the expected decrease in PM 10 concentrations, the results highlight that the reduction of transport emission would not help to avoid severe air pollution, due to the other pollution sources that contribute to its origin. The results presented for the first time in this work are of particular interest because they may be used as a basis to investigate in more details the sources that can impact on the air quality in Brescia, with the aim to propose effective measures able to reduce it., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Menstrual hygiene waste management has received lack of attention and hence it has been poorly investigated, mainly due to its association to social and cultural aspects of a natural process, that is often surrounded of entrenched stigma and taboos. Therefore, data about quantities and full lifecycle of the generated waste are often not available or suffer of large incertitude. However, this argument represents a relevant and critical issue, not only for the health of the women, their equality, and dignity, but also possible associated environmental concerns. This work highlights the necessity and the urgency to face the problems associated with menstrual hygiene waste, which cannot be still considered only relegated to low-income countries. It gives the dimension of the waste associated to migrants in the incoming areas, which is often neglected in sanitation program implementation. This work also describes the existing knowledge gaps and suggests some actions to implement in the next future. In the pandemic context, menstrual hygiene needs urgent attention, also to understand the possible implication of this waste, generated for example in refugees' camps, in SARS-CoV-2 spread, and to prevent eventual unknown environmental issues connected with the reconvention of some factories from the production of menstrual hygiene products to facemasks manufacture., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Although COVID-19 has captured most of the public health attention, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has not disappeared. To prevent the escape of resistant microorganisms in animals or environmental reservoirs a "one health approach" is desirable. In this context of COVID-19, AMR has probably been affected by the inappropriate or over-use of antibiotics. The increased use of antimicrobials and biocides for disinfection may have enhanced the prevalence of AMR. Antibiotics have been used empirically in patients with COVID-19 to avoid or prevent bacterial coinfection or superinfections. On the other hand, the measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 could have reduced the risk of the emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Since we do not currently have a sterilizing vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus may still multiply in the organism and new mutations may occur. As a consequence, there is a risk of the appearance of new variants. Nature-derived anti-infective agents, such as antibodies and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are very promising in the fight against infectious diseases, because they are less likely to develop resistance, even though further investigation is still required., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Pérez de la Lastra, Anand, González-Acosta, López, Dey, Bontempi and Morales delaNuez.)

Background: Antibiotic resistance is one of the current threats to human health, forcing the use of drugs that are more noxious, costlier, and with low efficiency. There are several causes behind antibiotic resistance, including over-prescription of antibiotics in both humans and livestock. In this scenario, researchers are shifting to new alternatives to fight back this concerning situation., Scope and Approach: Nanoparticles have emerged as new tools that can be used to combat deadly bacterial infections directly or indirectly to overcome antibiotic resistance. Although nanoparticles are being used in the pharmaceutical industry, there is a constant concern about their toxicity toward human health because of the involvement of well-known toxic chemicals (i.e., sodium/potassium borohydride) making their use very risky for eukaryotic cells., Key Findings and Conclusions: Multiple nanoparticle-based approaches to counter bacterial infections, providing crucial insight into the design of elements that play critical roles in the creation of antimicrobial nanotherapeutic drugs, are currently underway. In this context, plant-based nanoparticles will be less toxic than many other forms, which constitute promising candidates to avoid widespread damage to the microbiome associated with current practices. This article aims to review the actual knowledge on plant-based nanoparticle products for antibiotic resistance and the possible replacement of antibiotics to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly changed the lifestyle of billions of people. Face masks became indispensable to protect from the contagion providing a significant environmental impact. The aim of this work is to propose possible solutions to decrease masks' impact on the environment. For this reason, different masks (surgical and fabric) were considered, and the CO 2 emissions associated with the mask materials production were calculated. Carbon Footprint (CF) for each material composing the masks was evaluated through the database Ces Selector 2019. The software Qgis (version 2.18.20) allows us to elaborate the CO 2 emissions maps for each Italian region. Finally, for surgical masks, which are often imported from abroad, the CF related to transport was considered. It results that fabric masks are a sustainable solution to prevent contagion. The total CO 2 emission associated with the use of fabric masks from the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020) to December 2021 resulted in about 7 kton compared to 350 kton for surgical masks.

Recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life batteries is mandatory to limit the need of virgin resources in the long-term. However, most of the recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) technologies are still in an infancy stage. As a result, to date, only few studies focus on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the proposed processes, presenting limited results. This paper reports the methodology and data resulting from sustainability evaluation of 33 different technologies for spent LIBs recovery, on the basis of the availability of information, identified in literature. The ESCAPE (standing for Evaluation of Sustainability of material substitution using CArbon footPrint by a simplified approach) method is based on the use of only two parameters: the embodied energy and the carbon footprint. These parameters are calculated for all the process steps of each technology. Using the ESCAPE approach, the data about energies and emissions associated with the electricity consumption for thermal and mechanical treatments and chemicals and water use are calculated for all the 33 selected technologies, referring to a recent work (Fahimi et a., 2022), which only presents the results. In addition, ESCAPE tool is used to evaluate and discuss the parameters that can affect the technologies sustainability, to better highlight the most onerous and impactful steps of each technology. Then, this paper also shows that ESCAPE approach allows to propose some strategies to improve the recovery processes, with the aim to support eco-design., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

The extraordinariness of COVID-19 occurred in a world that was completely unprepared to face it. To justify this, sometimes literature proposes positive associations between concentrations of some air pollutants and SARS-CoV-2 mortality and infectivity. However, several of these studies are affected by incomplete data analysis and/or incorrect accounts of spread dynamics that can be attributed to respiratory viruses. Based on separate analyses involving all the USA states and globally all the world countries suffering from the pandemic, this communication shows that commercial trade seems to be a good indicator of virus spread, being proposed as a surrogate of human-to-human interactions. The results of this study strongly support the conclusion that this new indicator could result fundamental to model (and avoid) possible future pandemics, strongly suggesting dedicated studies devoted to better investigate its significance., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This review discusses the techniques available for detecting and inactivating of pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste. In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 is being given special attention, with a thorough examination of all possible transmission pathways linked to the selected waste matrices. Despite the lack of works focused on landfill leachate, a systematic review method, based on cluster analysis, allows to analyze the available papers devoted to sewage sludge and wastewater, allowing to focalize the work on technologies able to detect and treat pathogens. In this work, great attention is also devoted to infectivity and transmission mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the literature analysis shows that sewage sludge and landfill leachate seem to have a remote chance to act as a virus transmission route (pollution-to-human transmission) due to improper collection and treatment of municipal wastewater and solid waste. However due to the incertitude about virus infectivity, these possibilities cannot be excluded and need further investigation. As a conclusion, this paper shows that additional research is required not only on the coronavirus-specific disinfection, but also the regular surveillance or monitoring of viral loads in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate. The disinfection strategies need to be optimized in terms of dosage and potential adverse impacts like antimicrobial resistance, among many other factors. Finally, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic microorganisms in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate can hamper the possibility to ensure safe water and public health in economically marginalized countries and hinder the realization of the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs)., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Almost all aspects of society from food security to disease control and prevention have benefited from pharmaceutical and personal care products, yet these products are a major source of contamination that ends up in wastewater and ecosystems. This issue has been sharply accentuated during the coronavirus disease pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) due to the higher use of disinfectants and other products. Here we review pharmaceutical and personal care products with focus on their occurrence in the environment, detection, risk, and removal., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-022-01498-7., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

The selective phosphorus recovery by wet chemical extraction and precipitation was assessed at the laboratory scale aiming at identifying a simple and replicable procedure that could be effectively applied to different types of sewage sludge ashes. The experimental work was performed on five samples of sewage sludge ashes, of which three were obtained from muffle-furnace incineration and two from full-scale mono-incineration plants. A single-step extraction procedure has been investigated by applying different operating conditions (type of leaching acid, liquid-to-solid ratio, contact time). Experimental results indicated that phosphorus recovery efficiency varied between 54 and 92% with limited co-dissolution of metals and metalloids, except for arsenic. Operating conditions, sewage sludge ashes characteristics and phosphorus removal processes in the wastewater treatment plant were the main factors affecting phosphorus recovery efficiency. The application of optimal operating conditions (0.2 M sulfuric acid, liquid-to-solid ratio of 20 and contact time of 2 h) resulted in phosphorus recovery from 76 to 92% on four samples. Subsequently, precipitation of phosphorus from acidic leachate was carried out by lime dosing. After filtering and drying, the recovered products presented a P 2 O 5 content between 11.5 and 36.7% dry weight, with a fraction of soluble phosphorus between 75 and 91%, a good percentage for application as fertilizer or animal feed. Since few undesired elements (i.e., As, Cu and Zn) exceeded the limits for fertilizer application (exception was represented by Ni and Pb, which were present at low concentration), an additional purification step may be required. Overall, experimental results highlighted the influence of process parameters on phosphorus recovery., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

On January 30, 2020, COVID-19 outbreak, detected for the first time in Wuhan (China), was declared by WHO a Public Health Emergency. In a strongly connected world, the consequent slowdown of the Chinese economy contributed to disrupt the global supply chains of several products. In a post-pandemic scenario, the expected rapid increase in demand of critical raw materials (associated with the transition to more green energy sources), coupled with the problems that some mining activities are relegated only in certain countries and regions, must be considered in a sustainable perspective. This work analyses the literature about (critical) raw materials and COVID-19, not only to present the impact of the pandemic on their supply, but also to propose some actions that should be pursued in a post-pandemic renaissance scenario, to increase raw materials availability, with great attention to most critical ones, in the frame of circular economy principles. The post-pandemic possibilities are evaluated and suitable actions are suggested to secure the raw materials availability for the foreseen increase of investments in crucial and strategic sectors, in accord with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed actions can be summarized as policy, strategy, economy, and technology activities., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phosphate rocks are a critical resource for the European Union, and alternative sources to assure the future production of a new generation of fertilizers are to be assessed. In this study, a statistical approach, combined with a sustainability evaluation for the recovery of materials from waste containing phosphorus (P), is presented. This work proposes a strategy to recover P and silica (SiO 2 ) from rice husk poultry litter ash (RHPLA). The design of experiment (DoE) method was applied to maximize the P extraction using hydrochloric acid (HCl), with the aim to minimize the contamination that can occur by leachable heavy metals present in RHPLA, such as zinc (Zn). Two independent variables, the molar concentration of the acid, and the liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) between the acid and RHPLA, were used in the experimental design to optimize the operating parameters. The statistical analysis showed that a HCl concentration of 0.34 mol/L and an L/S ratio of 50 are the best conditions to recover P with low Zn contamination. Concerning the SiO 2 , its content in RHPLA is too low to consider the proposed recovery process as advantageous. However, based on our analysis, this process should be sustainable to recover SiO 2 when its content in the starting materials is more than 80%.

There a lot of review papers addressing specific COVID-19 research sectors, then devoted to specialists. This review provides an in-depth summary of the available information about SARS-CoV-2 and the corresponding disease (also known as COVID-19), with a multi-disciplinary approach. After the paper introduction, the first section treats the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, the medical implications of the infection, and the human susceptivity. Great attention is devoted to the factor affecting the infection routes, distinguishing among the possible human-to-human, environmental-to-human, and pollution-to-human transmission mechanisms. The second section is devoted to reporting the impact of SARS-CoV-2 not only on the healthcare systems but also on the economy and society. The third section is devoted to non-pharmaceutical behaviours against COVID-19. In this context, this review section presents an analysis of the European second wave allowing not only to focalize the importance of some restrictions, but also the relevance of social acceptance of some measures. The data reassumed in this work are very useful for interdisciplinary researchers that work in a team to find the basic available information about all the aspects connected with this pandemic (from virus diffusion mechanism to health information, from economic and social impacts to measures to reduce the pandemic spread), with great attention to social acceptance of restriction measures and of vaccines (that currently results to be insufficient to achieve community immunity). Then, this review paper highlights the fundamental role of the trans-multi-disciplinary research that is devoted not only to understand the basics of the pandemic to propose solutions but has also the commitment to find strategies to increase population resilience. For this aim, the authors strongly suggest the establishment of an international health-care trans-multi-disciplinary workforce devoted to investigate, mitigate, and control also future viral events., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been proposed to give a possible future to humankind. Due to the multidimensional characteristic of sustainability, SDGs need research activities with a multidisciplinary approach. This work aims to provide a critical review of the results concerning sustainable materials obtained by Italian researchers affiliated to the National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM) and their contribution to reaching specific indicators of the 17 SDGs. Data were exposed by using the Web of Science (WoS) database. In the investigated period (from 2016 to 2020), 333 works about sustainable materials are found and grouped in one of the following categories: chemicals (33%), composites (11%), novel materials for pollutants sequestration (8%), bio-based and food-based materials (10%), materials for green building (8%), and materials for energy (29%). This review contributes to increasing the awareness of several of the issues concerning sustainable materials but also to encouraging the researchers to focus on SDGs' interconnections. Indeed, the mapping of the achievements can be relevant to the decision-makers to identify the opportunities that materials can offer to achieve the final goals. In this frame, a "Sustainable Materials Partnership for SDGs" is envisaged for more suitable resource management in the future.

The livestock sector is one of the most important sectors of the agricultural economy due to an increase in the demand for animal protein. This increase generates serious waste disposal concerns and has negative environmental consequences. Furthermore, the food production chain needs phosphorus (P), which is listed as a critical raw material due to its high demand and limited availability in Europe. Manure contains large amounts of P and other elements that may be recycled, in the frame of circular economy and "zero waste" principles, and reused as a by-product for fertilizer production and other applications. This paper focuses on the extraction and recovery of amorphous silica from rice husk poultry litter ash. Two different extraction procedures are proposed and compared, and the obtained silica is characterized. This work shows that amorphous silica can be recovered as an almost pure material rendering the residual ash free of P. It also addresses the possibility of more specific phosphorous extraction procedures via acid leaching., Competing Interests: The authors report that there are no conflicts of interest to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

This paper reports a complete characterization of the lowest fractions of bottom ash derived from co-combustion of municipal solid waste with sewage sludge (COBA), with the aim to suggest suitable reuse strategies of this by-product. X-Ray Microanalysis is coupled with mineralogical characterization, based on X-Ray Diffraction and Rietveld refinement, to extract information about COBA crystalline and amorphous phases. The composition of different particle size fractions shows that amount of amorphous increases with the increase of fractions sizes. In particular, the finest COBA size fraction (<300 μm) shows more leachable heavy metals (i.e. Pb, and Zn) compared to the investigated fraction with the highest sizes (1400 µm). On the basis of their composition, lowest particle size fractions show a better hydraulic behavior compared to bottom ash obtained from incineration of only municipal solid waste, suggesting possible attractive COBA applications, as for example, Portland cement substitution. In addition, COBA with size fractions in the range of 1000-1400 μm are proposed to be used to produce glass and ceramic. Finally, due to its high amount of reactive amorphous phase (about 73% for fraction size of 1400 μm) COBA is used, in combination with other by-products (coal fly ash and flue gas desulphurization residues), to stabilize municipal solid waste incinerator fly ash produced at the same incinerator plant, following the azure chemistry principle of use a waste to stabilize another waste., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This work proposes new eco-materials for the adsorption of diclofenac (DCF). The large consumption of this nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug combined with the inefficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) leads to its presence in aquatic environments as an emerging pollutant. The adsorption technique is widely used for pharmaceutical removal. Moreover, due to the large effect of commercial adsorbents, in the frame of the Azure Chemistry approach, new sustainable materials are mandatory for removal as emerging pollutants. The work proposes three adsorbents that were obtained from different stabilization methods of fly ash derived from an incinerator plant; the stabilization techniques involved the use of various industrial by-products such as bottom ash, flue gas desulphurization residues, coal fly ash, and silica fume. The best performance, although less than activated carbon, was obtained by COSMOS (COlloidal Silica Medium to Obtain Safe inert: the case of incinerator fly ash), with a removal efficacy of approximately 76% with 15 g/L of material. Several advantages are expected not only from the DCF removal but also from an economic perspective (the newly obtained adsorbents are eco-materials, so they are cheaper in comparison to conventional adsorbents) and in terms of sustainability (no toxic reagents and no heating treatment are involved). This work highlights the adsorption performance of the new eco-materials and their potential use in WWTPs.

After COVID-19 initial diffusion in Europe in March 2020, research has suggested a direct correlation between environmental pollution and contagion dynamics (i.e., environment-to-human pollution), thereby indicating that mechanisms other than human-to-human transmission can explain COVID-19 diffusion. However, these studies did not consider that complex outcomes, such as a pandemic's diffusion patterns, are typically caused by a multiplicity of environmental, economic and social factors. While disciplinary specialties increase scholars' attitudes of concentrating on specific factors, neglecting this multiplicity during a pandemic crisis can lead to misleading conclusions. This communication aims to focus on certain limitations of current research about environmental-to-human COVID-19 transmission and shows the benefit of an interdisciplinary, multi-dimensional approach to understand the geographical diversity of contagion diffusion patterns., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This communication aims to advocate a more coordinate activity mainly between medical and environmental scientists to clarify some confusing information related to airborne diffusion mechanisms of COVID-19. In this frame it is suggested that parameters other than environmental pollution (accounting for pollution-to-human transmission mechanisms), as for example parameters involving commercial exchanges (accounting for human-to-human transmission mechanisms), should be considered to better justify the difference in the initial diffusion of virus in Italy., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

MnO 2 nanostructures were fabricated by plasma assisted-chemical vapor deposition (PA-CVD) using a fluorinated diketonate diamine manganese complex, acting as single-source precursor for both Mn and F. The syntheses were performed from Ar/O 2 plasmas on MgAl 2 O 4 (100), YAlO 3 (010), and Y 3 Al 5 O 12 (100) single crystals at a growth temperature of 300 °C, in order to investigate the substrate influence on material chemico-physical properties. A detailed characterization through complementary analytical techniques highlighted the formation of highly pure and oriented F-doped systems, comprising the sole β -MnO 2 polymorph and exhibiting an inherent oxygen deficiency. Optical absorption spectroscopy revealed the presence of an appreciable Vis-light harvesting, of interest in view of possible photocatalytic applications in pollutant degradation and hydrogen production. The used substrates directly affected the system structural features, as well as the resulting magnetic characteristics. In particular, magnetic force microscopy (MFM) measurements, sensitive to the out-of-plane magnetization component, highlighted the formation of spin domains and long-range magnetic ordering in the developed materials, with features dependent on the system morphology. These results open the door to future engineering of the present nanostructures as possible magnetic media for integration in data storage devices.

This paper reports a complete characterisation of poultry litter ash and its potential use as a heavy metal stabiliser. We propose a novel approach, in which the ashes deriving from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) are combined with poultry litter ash, rather than with coal combustion flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) residues. Heavy metals stabilisation was demonstrated by comparing the elemental concentrations in the leaching solutions of the starting raw and stabilised materials: leachable Pb and Zn showed a reduced solubility. The characterisation was conducted by total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX). The results showed that the poultry litter ash was Ca-, P-, K- and S-rich (>29 g/kg). It contained amorphous materials (i.e. fly ash economiser (FAECO) 73% and fly ash cyclone (FACYC) 61%) and soluble phases (e.g. arkanite and sylvite; up to 13% FAECO and 28% FACYC), as well as resilient crystalline (up to 2% of FAECO and FACYC) and amorphous phases (e.g. hydroxyapatite). After two months, the Pb and Zn concentrations in the leachate solutions were below the limit set by the European regulations for waste disposal (<0.2 mg/L and 1.5 mg/L, respectively). We propose a mechanism for the heavy metals stabilisation based on the carbonation process and high amounts of P, Ca and reactive amorphous phases. In conclusion, it is demonstrated that poultry litter ash can be an effective secondary source of heavy metals, allowing their immobilisation through P- and Ca-based reactive amorphous phases., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)