Marine cargo ships use a fuel called heavy fuel oil which produces around 145,000 BTU per gallon (Energy Consumption by Mode of Transportation.). The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) was introduced into clinical use in the late 1980s and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the US in 1991. 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. Though technicians are paid regardless of whether they are cleaning LMAs or are performing some other task, these wages are nonetheless assigned to the reusable LMA on the basis of time spent. Figueredo E. Changes in the intracuff pressure of the laryngeal masks airway caused by repeated use. Manufacturers can do this solely by machine or by human eye/hand plus machine for extra quality assurance. And then there's the water. Define the Life-cycle This is an example of a simple product life-cycle diagram. During production, two components have to be created which are the blade and the plastic body. use/disposable and multiple-use/washable surgical gowns. 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. The metal liquid then goes through a strengthening process called annealing. The processes that contribute to these emissions differ markedly between the 2 LMA devices. The second component of the razor is the plastic body which is made of a fairly inexpensive plastic called polystyrene. Product Ecology (PR) Consultants. What Is Tungsten Carbide or Hard Metal? AZoM.com, 2 Aug. 2009, https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4827. Finally, the need for manual labor in the cleaning process of reusable LMAs contributed to the costs of these LMAs. Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Nappies in the UK Ref: ISBN 1844324273, LIT 2080 PDF, 1.83 MB, 203 pages This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.. This obviously makes the results less accurate, but it can still be used as a general indicator of impact. On the basis of manufacturer information and density testing, the materials used in the 2 LMAs were identified and their compositions measured using a microgram scale (Table 1). Materials were matched with appropriate life cycle inventory records from the ecoinvent database.11 Injection molding was assumed for the hard plastic pieces (polycarbonate and ABS plastic) and thermoforming for the softer plastics (silicone, polypropylene, and PVC). BIC has reported their total energy usage and carbon footprint in their factories around the world, this was all however for the year 2016. 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. Reusable LMAs were collected in a dirty device bin on the anesthesia cart and then reprocessed by the anesthesia technicians. PPO elements of the disposable razor are hard to determine in years, however, data shows that most plastic items take up to 1,000 years to begin to decompose (LeBlanc). LMA North America. The unit cost of disposable LMAs is 20% higher at approximately $9.60 per unit. (iii)What are the strategic lifecycle challenges for paramount's current products as well as for clean edge? Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Inc., 26 Sept. 2012, www.britannica.com/technology/tungsten-processing#ref82029. SimaPro is our flagship product: life cycle assessment software that gives sustainability experts, product designers and decision-makers the power to gain insight into the environmental performance of products and services, to define hotspots and to drive positive change. Teoh W, Lim Y. BIC may be doing as much as possible to lessen the impact of the production of disposable razors, but due to the massive production it will because unsustainable, because of the energy input, material consumptions, and unrecyclable nature of disposable razors. A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Packaging for the Distribution of Italian Fruit and Vegetables. Ecoinvent 2.2. The product has several innovative elements, due to the implementation of eco-design principles, such as: (1) introduction of biopolymers (namely polylactic acid (PLA) and Mater-bi), (2) relevant . The environmental effects of labor are often omitted from life cycle assessment studies, but are included here as part of the sensitivity analysis. From mining and extracting the natural tungsten metal, to making the metal alloy and manufacturing just the blade, waste is released. f'C58NQ}i:]1 $Nh@b8H|iWILGgj{J27]Xp0N@h+ !` >q Pollution of the oceans from plastics has become an increasingly large issue that researchers are still assessing. Despite this, a general perception is that reusable LMAs possess a safety profile inferior to that of disposable LMAs, thus contributing to the proliferation of the latter. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a framework for assessing the environmental impacts of product systems and decisions. After the products are packaged, there has to be a way for them to get to the end consumer. How One Company Keeps Used Razors Out Of Oceans.Green Matters, Green Matters, 25 Sept. 2017, www.greenmatters.com/news/2017/09/25/Z1oInGt/razors-ocean. Our LCA team retains its reputation as the most experienced life cycle staff in North America. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Atlanta, 2012. Therefore, to help designers get started and make informed decisions, a Life cycle Analysis (LCA) can be carried out using the information gathered during the research stage. The steps in LCA are (1) goal and scope definition, (2) life cycle inventory analysis (LCI), (3) life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and (4) interpretation of the results. This is where most of the complexity of an LCA is involved. Since BICs products do not go to a single location it is impossible to give an exact number for BICs energy usage in transportation. GaBi is a LCA software that allows its users to connect environmental impacts to a product across its lifespan. To make the handle and cartridges, these various plastics are heated together and melted together along with optional colorants and various filler materials. 2 offers from $9.92. At an average of 10 reuse cycles, GHG impacts increase by >50%, and this is the break-even point at which the GHG emissions from reusable and disposable LMAs are essentially equal. These containers, mainly wooden pallets and spools, are subject to European legislat 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. What IS Life Cycle Assessment? Two Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methodologies were employed using SimaPro software 51,52 to calculate the environmental impacts of manufacturing both the plastic and compostable coffee . U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The majority (77%) of life cycle CO2e emissions for the reusable LMA is from natural gas production and combustion to produce steam for the autoclave machine. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. Technical Fact Sheet-Tungsten.Technical Fact Sheet- Tungsten, EPA, Jan. 2014, www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-03/documents/ffrrofactsheet_contaminant_tungsten_january2014_final.pdf. BIC put out a report detailing how they deal with the waste from their factories. 21 offers from $5.20. Next, the razors will be tested for flaws, strength, and razor hardness and sharpness (Safety Razor, madehow.com). Despite manufacturer-recommended cleaning processes, and various modifications thereof, proteinaceous material may remain on reusable LMAs.27 Of particular concern, these residues may expose patients to prions causing transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, CreutzfeldtJakob disease. 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. The actual making of the razors, and printing paper for their packaging has a lower environmental impact, than the waste from the factories high energy use. Packaging is an . This project is a collaboration between the Great Recovery Programme and Fab Lab London. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2001;6:7680, 13. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) measures the impact of products on the environment. However, by looking at just this one company, there is a sense of the massive amount of direct and indirect emissions from just the making of razors that are thrown away so quickly after use, with an increase annually of users. It has been assumed that the packaging contains cardboard, even though it has been made from other natural fibres like bamboo, as there is no info on those materials in the Eco-Indicator tables. Differences in environmental impacts between devices may present a compelling consideration in their selection. The 2 LMA options are nearly equivalent in terms of eutrophication impacts, but with different contributions. Buy Now. 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. BIC Group, 2016, Sustainable Development Report. After getting the sharpened blade they are coated with a thin film to allows them to not lose sharpness after only a few shaves (Manufacturing Processes). Additionally, the PVC-dominated material composition of the disposable LMA and associated packaging added significantly to its impacts. Production of razor blades across the industry is fairly standard. From San Diego, both LMAs were assumed to be transported 4700 km by truck to New Haven, CT (70% of shipments in the US are made by truck).13. How One Facility Completely Eliminated the Use of TCE Schick Razor Blade Manufacturing in Knoxville, Tennessee. 2017. Gillette Mach3 Men's Disposable Razor for Sensitive Skin - Best Cartridge Razor for Sensitive Skin. Health care facilities can decrease their environmental impacts by using reusable LMAs, to a lesser extent by selecting disposable LMA models that are not made of certain plastics, and by ordering in bulk from local distributors. Part of this responsible shipping mentality forces them to change their packaging to be able to ship more at a time. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011, 16. The carbon alloy allows for the metal to be strong enough to be exposed to high levels of moisture without corroding, yet brittle enough to be made into thin blades for a multiple blade razor (Safety Razor). This short course will give you an introduction to life cycle assessment (LCA) methods and how to apply them in real-life situations.. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a rapidly evolving tool used to determine impacts of products or systems over a range of environmental and resource issues. 2. Recycling of Polypropylene (PP). AZoCleantech.com, 25 June 2012, www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=240. 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. The final value for the cartridge-based razor was 115.06 mPt, and the value for the double edge safety razor was 15.70 mPt. Terracycle is a company that was created to address the issue of recyclable products that often end up in landfills. These impacts are quantified here in terms of energy use, water use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using general factors for US labor.22. @article{Cordella2015EvolutionOD, title={Evolution of disposable baby diapers in Europe: life cycle assessment of environmental impacts and identification of key areas of improvement}, author={Mauro Cordella and Iris Bauer and Anja Lehmann and Matthias Schulz and Oliver Wolf}, journal={Journal of Cleaner Production}, year={2015}, volume={95 . Weissman, Alexander, et al. 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). Until now, we defined what we want to measure and collect in phase 1. However, the LCA is not an exact science and has its limitations: BIC is voicing their concern about the environmental impact that their large production goals can have. Tungsten has a high melting point and is used mainly for strong tools unless used for smaller applications when combined with a carbon alloy: Its alloys are employed in rocket-engine nozzles and other aerospace applications (Safety Razors). To begin the process of creating the razor blades, tungsten carbide, which is the metal that the blades and other optional components are made of, must first be manufactured. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) covers all relevant inputs from the environment (e.g., ores and crude oil, water, land use) as well as emissions into air, water and soil (e.g., carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides). After the products make their way to consumers and serve their purpose, the waste must be dealt with. In order to carry out the Eco-Indicator analysis method, the methodology described below has to be followed: 1.Establish the purpose of the Eco-Indicator calculations 2.Define the life-cycle 3.Quantify the materials and processes 4.Complete the form 5.Interpret and analyse the results The authors declare no conflict of interest. The long and harmful life-cycle of disposable razors is not reflected to the buyer browsing aisles of fully stocked razor shelves. 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. There is always some level of uncertainty in the results and in the methodology; so users shouldnt take the numbers shown as absolute values, but more as a guide to prioritise work. 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. According to studies done by the EPA, tungsten steel was originally tested as a stable metal in soil that does not dissolve easily in water (EPA). In their study of Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment technologies treating petroleum process waters, Vlaopolous et al. The alloy is strong enough to resist moisture for a short time in the buyers shower, yet, in the landfill, it does eventually rust and decompose. We purchase the product in a store, use the product for removing unwanted body and facial hair until it eventually dulls, and then we toss it in the bathroom trash, unaware of where it goes or where it came from. Life cycle assessment of a disposable and a reusable surgery instrument set for spinal fusion surgeries Leiden A, Cerdas F, Noriega D, Beyerlein J, Herrmann C. Life cycle assessment of a disposable and reusable surgery instrument set for spinal fusion surgeries. 3 in Table 1). Eshwar Shop. This is because of the complexity of the life cycle, from the acquisition of materials to the management of a product at the end of its life. Properties: Tungsten Carbide-An Overview. AZoM.com, 25 Nov. 2019, www.azom.com/properties.aspx?ArticleID=1203. Disposable LMAs are made largely from PVC plastic, which is associated with a number of health concerns that are gaining increased attention.23 Historic efforts to minimize routine medical incineration resulted in the 1998 Memorandum of Understanding between the American Hospital Association and the US Environmental Protection Agency, largely on the basis of recognition of the potential carcinogenic effects of burning PVC plastics. 2011, Packaging Technology and Science. The differences in environmental impacts between these devices may present a compelling consideration in device selection when concern for infection transmission is not a factor. Manufacturing Processes (RAZOR): KAI FACTORY: KAI Group. KAI FACTORY | KAI Group, www.kai-group.com/global/en/kai-factory/process/razor/. Case Studies. Case Studies : Reducing BIC's Rejection Rates | KEYENCE America, www.keyence.com/solutions/case-studies/bic.jsp. 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.9 Data collection was specific to Yale New Haven Hospital, including device transportation, cleaning procedures and labor, energy requirements, and disposal. Polystyrene is not biodegradable and takes hundreds of years to break down. The LMAs were first rinsed in tap water, scrubbed externally with a Hibiclens sponge and internally with a small scrub brush, and rinsed again. Rogers, Tony. The study found that: 11 / Piece. Where material types were unknown, proxies were assumed from relevant literature,2 although more detailed material information from suppliers would permit a more robust analysis. This means, of the 2 billion razors disposed of annually within the United States, each razor will be on the planet longer than the people who used them. Overcash M. Comparison of reusable and disposable medical textiles. Alternate assumptions were used to test model sensitivity and to create bounds to aid interpretation of the results (Table 2). a 4.1% (Bic). With the results we supply the basis for strategic decisions for sustainable action. 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. 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. Amersfoort, The Netherlands: Product Ecology (PR) Consultants, 2011, 11. American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Task Force on Infection Control. Williams S, Henderson K. A survey into the number of times laryngeal masks are used. DEHP leaches out upon exposure to heat and lipids, as would be the case in contact with mucous membranes. 5.Interpret and analyse the results. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. "Tungsten Processing." endstream endobj 752 0 obj <>stream Its aim is a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of products and services. 2019, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/polystyrene-recycling.htm. LCA's are completed particularly in relation to how to develop a sustainable world where less waste and more reuse is implemented. 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/. h[K#1}\$u@ The largest sources of both cancer and noncancer impacts for the reusable LMA are from emissions from waste management (35%), the mining and production of metals to build wastewater treatment infrastructure (25%), and the bleaching of packaging paper and the card insert (20%). There are so many variables that you have to take into account when calculating how much of an impact a product is having on the environment and our resources. Silver Spring, MD: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2002, 26. 85 percent of the energy came from electricity, 14 percent came from gas, and the rest came from fuel oil (For You For Everyone Registration Document). The alternatives are objects made of bio compostable plastic,. The EPA has said in their 2014 report: Currently, little information is available about the fate and transport of tungsten in the environment and its effects on human health. hbbd``b`z$k@D BIC reported that every year around 2.6 billion of their razors are chosen by consumers every year (Shaver's). The majority of life cycle human health impacts of disposable LMAs are caused by PVC use in packaging and the device itself. The metal used for the razor blades is called Tungsten Carbide which is used in wear applications, such as shaving (Safety Razor). The US Environmental Protection Agency's Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts (TRACI) life cycle impact assessment method was used to model environmental impacts of greenhouse gases and other pollutant emissions. Disposable Razors in Bulk, Bulk Razors with Knife Caps, Individually Packaged Disposable Razors Bulk, Suitable for Hotels, Shelters, Homeless People, Nursing Homes, Charities, Churches (60) 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (9) $22.39 $ 22. 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. Goal, scope and background The industrial packages sector has great importance for the transport sector in Europe. Biron, Michel. These few simple materials go through processes of heating, cooling, moulding, cutting, and sharpening throughout their manufacturing process to eventually become the handle, razor blades, and blade cartridge, that will then be assembled to become a disposable razor. It has been assumed that the only part recycled at the end of life is the packaging. With the recommended use of three to ten uses for disposable razors, they quickly end up in the landfill to decompose.
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