Reinforcing Expansive Soils through Medical Waste Valorization: A Critical Review of Nitrile and Latex Glove–based Stabilization Techniques

The behaviour of expansive soils has always been a critical issue in geotechnical engineering, because of the large degree of shrink–swell which causes serious distress to pavements, structures and light-weight construction. Traditional stabilizers like lime and cement have proven to be efficient stabilizers, but they are quite costly with environmental issues often restricting the cost and energy intensive manufacturing process. Lately, the idea of sustainable geotechnics has driven the development of new materials obtained from waste streams to control soil behaviour with minimum environmental footprint. The volume of waste generated particularly nitrile and latex gloves has significantly increased as a result of international health emergencies, unprecedented interest has arisen to valorize them into civil engineering applications. Shredded nitrile gloves and shredded latex gloves have been identified as potential reinforcement fibers for expansive-stabilized soil because of their tensile strength, flexibility—and resistance to moisture degradation. When integrated within a soil, the polymer Fiber provide improved mechanical properties and greater control of volume changes. The present review systematically presents available experimental and analytical literature on the use of waste nitrile gloves and latex gloves for treatment of expansive soil. Nevertheless, there is still dearth in long-term durability characterization, large-scale field validation, environmental risk assessment and standard mix design guidance. Further investigations should remedy these shortcomings to allow for secure, cost-effective and regulatory-compliant integration of glove stabilization methods into geotechnical construction practice.