Metal leaching from antimicrobial cloth face masks intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Global health organizations recommend the use of cloth face coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19. Seemingly overnight, companies whose primary business is in no way related to healthcare or personal protective equipment-from mattresses manufacturers to big box stores-transitioned into the "mask business." Many companies advertise antimicrobial masks containing silver, copper, or other antimicrobials.

Valorization of cherry pits: Great Lakes agro-industrial waste to mediate Great Lakes water quality.

To meet human food and fiber needs in an environmentally and economically sustainable way, we must improve the efficiency of waste, water, and nutrient use by converting vast quantities of agricultural and food waste to renewable bioproducts. This work converts waste cherry pits, an abundant food waste in the Great Lakes region, to biochars and activated biochars via slow pyrolysis. Biochars produced have surface areas between 206 and 274 m/g and increased bioavailability of Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and P.