life cycle assessment of disposable razors life cycle assessment of disposable razors

The Eco-Indicator for EPDM rubber includes the manufacturing of the rubber as well as the molding process. Here's How to Keep Your Razors from Contributing to Landfill Waste. USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 7 Aug. 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/07/landfill-waste-how-prevent-disposable-razor-plastic-pollution/1943345001/. Shavers. BICWorld, www.bicworld.com/en/our-products/shavers. There are many detailed stages but the main ones are: extracting and. Waste is not only a problem when a product is disposed of, but also when it is initially manufactured. Eshwar Shop. Amersfoort, The Netherlands: Product Ecology (PR) Consultants, 2011, 11. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a modeling tool for quantifying the environmental impacts of products and processes. American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Task Force on Infection Control. After the end of their recommended lifetime, reusable LMAs were also placed in municipal solid waste containers. The largest source of GHG emissions for the disposable LMAs (23%) is the production and polymerization of PVC, the main material constituent. They have teamed up with Gillette to raise awareness about the massive waste of disposable razors by allowing users to mail their old razors in to be recycled. 1. The number of times an LMA is reused is a particularly uncertain assumption, because there have been reports of premature disposal.16 Use in excess of the manufacturer recommended 40 times has also been reported,17 and 100 to 200 uses appears to be possible with proper handling and preuse checks.1821 Here, 10, 20, 30, 60, 80, and 100 cycles are considered as alternative assumptions. Polystyrene is a naturally transparent thermoplastic that is available as both a typical solid plastic as well in the form of a rigid foam material (Rodgers, Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS).). The number of BIC razors that are used by consumers is astounding. In addition, the impact categories of eutrophication (growth of microorganisms due to excess nutrients) and terrestrial ecotoxicity reflect the impacts on other species and ecosystems and have implications for public health. This project is a collaboration between the Great Recovery Programme and Fab Lab London. This LCA is specific for surgical gowns used in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota. It is at this stage that very small amounts of other metals such as iron, silicon, and chromium may be added to the carbide to increase its strength and durability. An updated lifecycle assessment for disposable and reusable nappies Report that looks at the effect of disposable and reusable nappies on global warming and other environmental impacts. Overcash M. Comparison of reusable and disposable medical textiles. Everything You Need To Know About Polypropylene (PP) Plastic. Everything You Need To Know About Polypropylene (PP) Plastic, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/all-about-polypropylene-pp-plastic. Ecoinvent 2.2. During the research, I could not find how much energy BIC injection molding machines use, but I did find the energy usage of a common injection molding machine called the Babyplast. The Fate of the Disposable Razor.Industrial Equipment News (IEN), 7 Aug. 2019, www.ien.com/product-development/news/21081402/the-fate-of-the-disposable-razor. Flying staff to meetings, shipping, and distributing the product is the highest offender for the planet. International Sympsium on Sustainable Systems and Technology. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2001;6:7680, 13. What does a business area's assessment of agreements, income, and value implicate? When the devices entered use at Yale New Haven Hospital, both the disposable and the reusable LMAs were removed from their original packaging, which was discarded. Bic has attempted to lower their direct emissions by having factories world-wide and creating: a Transport Community which connects shipping managers on each continent to raise control for greenhouse gas emissions, optimize shipments and routes, and use only responsible carriers (Bic). Tungsten is a natural metal deposit that is found in metamorphic, and granitic igneous rocks, primarily in China, Russia, South Korea, South America, and the Rocky Mountains in the United States. Figure: Life Cycle Assessment steps: goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment and interpretation (Sala et al., 2016) In the goal and scope phase, the aims of the study are defined, namely the intended application, the reasons for carrying out the study and the intended audience. To begin the process of creating the metal, the tungsten is purified and ground into a fine powder. My next blog post will show some design recommendations using sketches and 3D-printed prototypes. The effect of alternate transport modes was quite small for the reusable LMA but quite significant for the disposable LMAs, leading to a large increase in GHG emissions in particular from air freight. %%EOF In landfilling or incinerating this part, the large amount of energy and material value used in creating it is lost. 2019, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/polystyrene-recycling.htm. Silver Spring, MD: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2002, 26. A complete life cycle cost analysis would complement the life cycle assessment results shown here; however, a simple analysis reveals that, assuming full utilization, a $200 reusable LMA costs $5 per use, plus $3 per cleaning for a unit cost of $8, excluding utility and hospital overhead costs. On the basis of such criteria, single-use disposable medical devices are increasingly supplanting reusable devices in the United States (US) and elsewhere.1 Although purchase and maintenance costs for disposable devices are perceived to be less than for reusables, this fails to account for indirect costs to society from the environmental impacts attributable to the entire life cycle of a device. The blades, which are made from a carbide steel made using tungsten carbide, the handle, which is made from a combination of plastics such as polypropylene, polystyrene, and phenylene oxide (PPO), and the cartridge, which is made up of these plastics and sometimes the carbide steel as well (Safety Razor, madehow.com). Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS). Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS), 5 Nov. 2015, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/polystyrene-ps-plastic. These results suggest that the reusable LMA Classic has fewer life cycle impacts in comparison with the disposable LMA Unique at Yale New Haven Hospital, across several categories of concern. For climate change impacts specifically, the reusable LMA contributes 7.4 kg CO2e of GHGs over its life cycle, and the equivalent 40 disposable LMAs contribute 11.3 kg CO2e, or approximately the equivalent to burning a gallon (4 L) of gasoline. A life-cycle inventory of cloth and disposable diapers was conducted based on diapering habits in Canada The parameters evaluated were energy consumption, water consumption, raw materials 15 Crop water use and water use efficiency on irrigated cotton farms in Australia S. Tennakoon, S. Milroy Environmental Science 2003 93 From mining and extracting the natural tungsten metal, to making the metal alloy and manufacturing just the blade, waste is released. Their carbon footprint was reported with the highest offender being air travel for the product, and staff transportation coming from France: accounting for 73% of the companys annual greenhouse gas emissions (Bic). Due to the nature of the disposable razor, they are usually just thrown in the trash and sent off to a landfill. Each manufacturing plant or node in the supply chain is referred to as agate-to-gate (GTG) life cycle inventory. Part of this responsible shipping mentality forces them to change their packaging to be able to ship more at a time. Reducing Trichloroethylene (TCE) Waste in the Fabricated Metals Sector.EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 9 Aug. 2016, www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/reducing-trichloroethylene-tce-waste-fabricated-metals-sector. Cargo planes and other transport aircraft use jet fuel which produces 135,000 BTU per gallon (Energy Consumption by Mode of Transportation.). Terracycle. Teoh W, Lim Y. Eckelman, Matthew PhD*; Mosher, Margo; Gonzalez, Andres; Sherman, Jodi MD. Another material used is polystyrene. Bics direct emissions were from: a combustion of fossil fuels, primarily natural gas and fuel oil, mainly used to heat buildings. Uncertainties about the correctness of the model. Poly(p-Phenylene Oxide). Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly(p-phenylene_oxide). The full life cycle environmental impacts can be challenging to model, because modern production "pathways" can involve numerous interacting technologies, each of which can consume materials and energy that are themselves products of complex production processes. Goodman EJ, Haas AJ. 3.Quantify the materials and processes The scope of our analysis, as is shown in Figure 1, includes extraction of material and energy resources, manufacturing, packaging and transport from the manufacturing site to the distribution center and the hospital, reprocessing, and eventual disposal. Innovative and strategic advisor to leading philanthropies, corporates, governments, international institutions and NGOs. To begin the process of making tungsten carbide, the tungsten must first be extracted. Gillette Mach3 Disposable Razors for Men, 6 Count, Designed for Sensitive Skin. #4. Polystyrene. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene. The metal and plastic components of the cartridges will be assembled, where they will then go to the next station where the blades will be inserted. Nash, Nathaniel C. HOW BIC LOST THE EDGE TO GILLETTE. The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. In 2016, Bic reduced packaging for their Soleil Razor by 40%. If the reusable LMA is discarded prematurely, e.g., after 20 uses,16 the unit cost increases to $13 per unit, but decreases to $5.50 if the lifetime can be extended to 80 uses. We perform Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Critical Reviews in accordance with ISO 14040/44 for products and services. McGain F, McAlister S, McGavin A, Story D. The financial and environmental costs of reusable and single-use plastic anaesthetic drug trays. Wat LI, Brimacombe JR, Gee S. Laryngeal mask airway longevity and pilot-balloon failure. So, while this solution is not an easy fix, as it would require buyers to save their own waste, it does provide an alternative to the disposable razor waste crisis. Depending upon on how the razor is packaged, the finished cartridge may or may not be assembled onto the handle of the razor, as some companies choose to package the handle detached the cartridge(s). LMAs may be composed of 40% DEHP by weight. Criteria air pollutants arise for the disposable LMA primarily from the production of ethylene (a polymer precursor) and the combustion of natural gas throughout the system, and for the reusable LMA from the combustion of fossil fuels to produce steam and electricity. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Gillette Razor Local Recycling Solutions.TerraCycle, www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/gillette-local-recycling. Contribution: This author helped conduct the study and analyze the data. 39 ($0.37/Count) FREE delivery Thu, Mar 2 on $25 of items shipped by Amazon. %PDF-1.5 % From the *Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Department of Anesthesiology, Yale School of Medicine/YaleNew Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT. Funding: Department of Anesthesiology, Yale School of Medicine. The designed short user-time of disposable razors, causes their life cycle to be spent mostly in the landfill where they will remain for hundreds of years due to non-biodegradable plastic, however, recycling the plastic and steel is possible if sent to specific recycling facilities, which could reduce the life cycle and negative impact on the environment. Erosion time for the blades was difficult to find, yet tungsten steel does erode faster than the plastic elements to the disposable razor due to the carbon alloys brittle makeup. Whereas transportation has a relatively significant GHG impact for the disposable LMAs, by comparison the transportation of reusable LMAs has little impact on GHG emissions, because 40 disposable LMAs must be shipped to provide an equivalent function to 1 reusable LMA. Introduction Paper diapers are roughly divided into two types: those for infants and those for adults. Metal materials are sent for smelting and conversion to new alloys (Terracycle). The metal is then quenched in water to bring it to -76 to -112 degrees Fahrenheit to harden the material (Safety Razor). Julabo Gmbh, et al. Approximately 24 L/min of water are used by the autoclave for cooling, for a total of 960 L of water needed to sterilize an LMA 40 times. Anaesthesia 2007;62:3814, 5. van Zundert AAJ, Fonck K, Al-Shaikh B, Mortier E. Comparison of the LMA-Classic with the new disposable soft seal laryngeal mask in spontaneously breathing adult patients. This points to the need for effective inventory control, which is also critical for the reusable devices because there needs to be a sufficient number clean and on hand while another batch is undergoing cleaning, sterilization, and cooling. The differences in environmental impacts between these devices strongly favor reusable devices. The total energy consumption of the Babyplast in its four-step molding cycle of setup, fill, cool, and reset was approximately 4.5 kilowatts (Weissman et.al). More immediate levels of waste, however, happen during the processing of disposable razors before they are even brought to the buyer and the landfill. The GTG LCIs are added together to give a cradle-to-gate (CTG) life cycle inventory . An LCA is a life cycle assessment which is completed through research, testing and understanding of the environmental impacts a particular item creates through it's resources use/ production/distribution/disposal. Kelly, John. Direct emissions refer to any emissions that resulted from the burning of fossil fuels and Indirect emissions refer to any emissions that resulted from the generation of electricity. In life cycle assessment, the basis of comparison is called the functional unit. For this report, the functional unit of the disposable and reusable LMAs was taken to be maintenance of airway patency by 40 disposable LMAs or 40 uses of 1 reusable LMA. You Asked, We Answered. Chronicle, 12 June 2015, chronicle.kennametal.com/what-is-tungsten-carbide-you-asked-we-answered/. For example, the designer might think that the manufacturing stage would be the most impactful, when in reality for some products its the raw material extraction or its use phase. Safety Razor. How Products Are Made, www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Safety-Razor.html. However, it is fairly easy to find what the disposable razors components are made of, due to its simplicity. Olsen, Alexandra. Razor blades dull quickly after repeated use, and are recommended to be used only three to ten times, making them a cheap alternative to reusable cartridges. Information on PPO plastics are difficult to find, as most of the data is about how it is made, and the chemical makeup and stability of the plastic, rather than information on the decomposition rate or waste used in the making of it. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 rev, 25. However, given the environmental toll to such a fast accumulating, and non-biodegradable product, waste management must be more considered by both the manufacturers and the buyers. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) Hazard Summary. This is known as a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) This can be extremely complex because it can involve dozens of separate processes, as well as hundreds of tracked substances. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method used to estimate the total environmental impacts from producing a good or service. Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Inc., 26 Sept. 2012, www.britannica.com/technology/tungsten-processing#ref82029. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cjd/qa_cjd_infection_control.htm. They also reported how they dealt with their non-hazardous waste 76 percent was recycled, 11 percent incineration with energy recovery, 10 percent was sent to land disposal, and the remaining 3 percent was sent off for a different treatment (For You for Everyone Registration Document). The alloy must allow for easy manufacturing due to the high demand of disposable razors and enough strength to last through transportation and shelf holding. Despite its ability to be recycled, it often ends up in the landfill as many people dont know how to properly recycle it, people are too lazy to recycle, or the plastics arent labeled properly (Polypropylene. Wikipedia). Goal, scope and background The industrial packages sector has great importance for the transport sector in Europe. The life cycle of plastics Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers the environmental aspects associated with a product over its lifespan. The metal used for the razor blades is called Tungsten Carbide which is used in wear applications, such as shaving (Safety Razor). Manufacturer specifications indicate 20 kWh of electricity use for a 5-minute cycle at 135C. Gathering all the data for the LCA is the most difficult part of the task, and normally assumptions have to be made where its impossible to gather all the knowledge required, thus not all the relevant impacts are considered. The life cycle for disposable razors must first be assessed by the products design. Sherman JD, Ryan S. Ecological responsibility in anesthesia practice.