Abstract
Rapid disease screening kits are widely used due to their efficiency and convenience in disease screening. However, the resulting medical waste poses a significant environmental burden. Recycling this waste in a resourceful manner not only protects the environment from pollution but also maximizes savings in resources and energy consumption. In this study, we developed a scalable, simple, and efficient method for the resourceful recovery of assay kits. The method achieves simultaneous 100% pathogen inactivation in the kits, complete leaching of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), and nondestructive recovery of plastics and tampons. Additionally, our mechanistic study on Au leaching has demonstrated that water plays a crucial role as the initiator for the Au dissolution reaction, and the hydroxyl radical (•OH) serves as an important reactive oxygen species. This research introduces a novel approach for dissolving the precious metal gold and provides a viable technology for the resource utilization of waste disease screening kits.