Park Ridge, IL: American Society of Anesthesiologists, 1999, 15. Phenylene oxide, or PPO, is another common plastic material used in disposable razors. Applying this method of assessment is complex and difficult and translating the theory into a . 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). Comparison of disposable and reusable laryngeal mask airways in spontaneously ventilating adult patients. Each year in Italy, millions of tons of fruits and vegetables are harvested, packed and transported to national and foreign retail outlets. Subramaniar Trading Company. 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. %%EOF A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Packaging for the Distribution of Italian Fruit and Vegetables. Growing awareness of the negative impacts from the practice of health care on the environment and public health calls for the routine inclusion of life cycle criteria into the decision-making process of device selection. 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. The LCA is broken into four stages: Defining the goal and scope how much of a product's lifecycle will be addressed, the reasons for carrying out the assessment, the intended audience, and the intended end-use [] Overview. Experience spanning from the market-leading environment and climate practice of a global top 10 law firm - to leading Europe's largest . Phoenix: IEEE, 2008, 23. This assessment is exceptionally useful as it shows the designer what areas are the most impactful during the products life cycle. SimaPro 7.3.2. Research about tungsten is ongoing and includes health effects and risks, degradation processes and an inventory of its use in the defense industry as a substitute for lead-based munitions (EPA). It is also often not accepted in curbside recycling, and even when it is, it is not separated and recycled when it reaches the dumping station, making it an unsustainable and wasteful material (Polystyrene. Wikipedia.org). LCA is a technique to assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product, process, or service. The LMA was then dried with a cotton towel. How Is Tungsten Carbide Formed? Chronicle, 20 Aug. 2015, chronicle.kennametal.com/how-is-tungsten-carbide-formed/. Europe, Plastic News. Anyone can send in razors of any kind, and the plastic and cardboard packaging as well. endstream endobj startxref 1. In the late 1990s, disposable LMAs became available. Premature disposal of reusable LMAs has significant environmental impacts (as well as costs, discussed below). Ann Fr Anesth Reanim 2006;25:8114, 7. Overcash M. Comparison of reusable and disposable medical textiles. 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. Weissman, Alexander, et al. Facilities that select reusable devices should implement inventory and operating procedures that ensure that devices are reused to the greatest possible extent. All of these equipment-related cases occurred before the routine implementation of sterilization procedures currently used in health care facilities. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Recycling of Polypropylene (PP). AZoCleantech.com, 25 June 2012, www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=240. The metal used for the razor blades is called Tungsten Carbide which is used in wear applications, such as shaving (Safety Razor). The number of BIC razors that are used by consumers is astounding. Olsen, Alexandra. BIC Group, 2016, For You For Everyone Registration Document. Phase 3: Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Wages are then spent on food, entertainment, transport, and other economic activities that themselves have environmental impacts. 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. In addition to traditional criteria for the selection and purchase of medical devices that include safety, efficacy, and cost, growing awareness of the negative impacts from the practice of health care on the environment and public health calls for the routine inclusion of life cycle criteria into the product selection process. Reusable LMAs in general appear to be made largely of silicone, lacking these same concerns for PVC/DEHP. LCAs can be used comparatively to assess different product or service design options or to identify environmental . Overall, reusable LMAs were found to have fewer negative environmental effects in nearly all categories, typically contributing <50% of the impacts of disposable LMAs. By not using air travel and transport, BIC greatly reduces their energy usage and carbon footprint at the same time. (iii)What are the strategic lifecycle challenges for paramount's current products as well as for clean edge? There are many detailed stages but the main ones are: extracting and. London There much environmentally friendly options when it comes to shavings, such as the traditional safety razor and straight razors, which can have a much longer life than disposable razors. Now that we understand the key challenges with the razors, and where the biggest impacts are occurring, we can begin to make informed decisions in the redesign. For waste management, switching from 100% incineration to 100% landfilling typically reduced impacts across all categories by 5%10%, with the national average scenario results decreasing in between. At the end of applying the additives, the blades are once again heated, to cement the coating onto the blade. Sinha R, Sunder R. Retiring reusable laryngeal mask airways after 40: an anaesthetist's dilemma. The plastic and steel elements of the razor can be recycled, yet, because they are so lightweight and small it makes it hard to separate in the trash and unable to be recycled normally. Growing awareness of the negative impacts from the practice of health care on the environment and public health calls for the routine inclusion of life cycle criteria into the decision-making process of device selection. 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. This is where the razors are portioned into their desired packaging amounts, that will be sent off to consumers. Land transport like trains and trucks use diesel as fuel and that produced 138,700 BTU (Energy Consumption by Mode of Transportation.). Lv, Andrea Lind, and Tigist Fetene. How Does Polystyrene Recycling Work?HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 4 Apr. The next step in the process is the assembly of all the parts. These containers, mainly wooden pallets and spools, are subject to European legislat Sherman JD, Ryan S. Ecological responsibility in anesthesia practice. Int Anesthesiol Clin 2010;48:139, 24. Pollution of the oceans from plastics has become an increasingly large issue that researchers are still assessing. 13, 14 There are few published life cycle assessment studies of medical items (ref. Most of those razors just end up in a landfill because most countries are not recycling them. After the reusable LMA was washed and dried, it was then placed into a heat seal pouch, made of polypropylene film and paper. There are 3 key tasks in this step. The 1% of the material that is recycled however, goes through a 5 step recycling process which is collecting, sorting, cleaning, reprocessing, and producing new products. Using BEES to select cost-effective green products. Environment Agency (Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Nappies in the U.K.) investigated the impact of three diapering systems: cloth diapers with home wash, cloth diapers with commercial laundry, and disposable diapers. The life cycle of plastics Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers the environmental aspects associated with a product over its lifespan. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 rev, 25. Several clinical trials comparing function and ease of placement demonstrated no significant difference between disposable and reusable versions,25 allowing hospitals to base purchase decisions on economic considerations alone. Teoh W, Lim Y. Anesth Analg 2012;114:105566, 8. In landfilling or incinerating this part, the large amount of energy and material value used in creating it is lost. Production of razor blades across the industry is fairly standard. What makes for an easy, simple, and affordable mass produced and used product costs more in its long afterlife in the landfill, out of sight of the buyers awareness. The metal is then quenched in water to bring it to -76 to -112 degrees Fahrenheit to harden the material (Safety Razor). In addition, although this life cycle assessment study did not analyze health impacts during use of an LMA, intraoperative exposure to diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is of some concern. Polypropylene. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypropylene. The human-health-related impact categories are pertinent to those developing standards for the delivery of health care. After reaching the end of their useful lives, both LMAs and their respective packages entered waste management, which was modeled using US average statistics on recycling/composting, landfilling, and incineration.15 Although some incineration facilities also produce electricity, this credit is not included here. 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. All of which provides an easy user experience, but, takes a toll on the planet. Overall BIC is an industry leader when it comes to reducing the environmental impact that their disposable products make. It is cheap and highly versatile, and can either be hard plastic material, or a soft foam material, making it one of the most common plastic materials manufactured and used (What Is Polystyrene? A new incentive must come for companies to be more sustainable with resources and create products that can still be cheap for the buyer, while also not taking a high cost on the environment. They report their waste production being at 340 tons, which represented an increase of 22% from 2015 (Bic). LCA for product sustainability. may email you for journal alerts and information, but is committed Shabecoff, Philip. 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 use of LCA to introduce life-cycle thinking into decision-making for the purchase of medical devices in the NHS. However, we can discuss the energy usage of different modes of transportation. 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. It can also help them to compare the newly redesigned product to the original, acting as a benchmark to ensure the design changes are actually positive for the environment. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique for assessing the potential environmental aspects and potential aspects associated with a product (or service), by: compiling an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs, evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with those inputs and outputs, The Nation's Freight: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for analyzing the environmental impacts and resources used throughout a product's life, from raw materials extraction to production, and extending through product use and disposal. Not all form of impacts are valued the same, so the ones with the largest impact should be tackled first in order to produce the maximum overall improvement. Gillette Razor Local Recycling Solutions.TerraCycle, www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/gillette-local-recycling. BIC has noted however that they strive to be as efficient with materials used when it comes to their packaging. 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. Gillette Plastic Disposable Shaving Kit supermax, for Hotel. There could be hundreds of different sources for their materials. Life Cycle Approach to Plastic Pollution - Life Cycle Initiative Our news to your inbox Click to subscribe to LC Net info@lifecycleinitiative.org About Us Our Activities & Tools Reports & Training News & Events Get Involved Life Cycle Approach to Plastic Pollution Activities Life Cycle Assessment in High-Impact sectors 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. For a number of perioperative textiles, surgical instruments, and anesthetic devices, a life cycle assessment (LCA) has been done and has shown reusables to be environmentally favorable to disposables [ 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 ]. 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). The processes that contribute to these emissions differ markedly between the 2 LMA devices. Holes are then punched into the metal and the tapelike sheets of razors are then put in a roll (Manufacturing Processes). Quantifying the Environmental Impacts of Labor. 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. 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. 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). The newest effort to recycle disposable razors is being done in France by BIC, but the company has said that they do not plan on unveiling a recycling program anywhere else yet (Powers). Properly following the instructions it should (hopefully) leave you with three pieces, the handle, the metal blade, the plastic that was covering the blade. In this life cycle breakdown, I will be discussing what materials go into the making of disposable razors and what processes the materials go through in the operation of making a disposable razor. An LCA is an accounting of the inputs and outputs for a product system, beginning with extraction of raw materials from the earth and continuing through all of the steps of transportation, manufacturing, product fabrication, product use, and end-of-life, which may include reuse, recycling . 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). It is a thermoplastic that exhibits high heat resistance, dimensional stability, and accuracy and is often combined with other plastics, such as polystyrene, due to various problems in its processing (Poly(p-Phenylene Oxide, Wikipedia.org). Buy Now. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy. The environmental impacts of the 2 LMAs were estimated using SimaPro life cycle assessment software and the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability impact assessment method. Of course the 2.6 billion razors were not, all the same, however, we can still give a ballpark estimate of how many tonnes of plastic/metal waste is being produced every year. It has a low density and is quite flexible and heat resistant, therefore making it an easily moulded and extruded material. Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Inc., 26 Sept. 2012, www.britannica.com/technology/tungsten-processing#ref82029. 4.Complete the form Thomas, G.P. disposable paper diaper; material recycling; closed-loop recycling; life cycle assessment (LCA) 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011, 16. It is resistant to fats and almost all organic solvents which helps it hold up in the damp and warm conditions of a bathroom and shower (Polypropylene. Wikipedia.org). Upgrading to a new, energy-efficient autoclave machine leads to a nearly equal reduction in life cycle GHG emissions and may be considered particularly in instances in which older equipment is being used. Once the plastic has cooled, the pieces are released from the moulds. BIC reported that the weight of one of their most popular disposable razors is 8.8 grams (Shavers). There is no public data entailing the details of this plastics recyclability. With such a fast accumulating waste and slow decomposition rate, there must be changes and incentive for companies to rethink the disposable razor. Differences in environmental impacts between devices may present a compelling consideration in their selection. Life Cycle Assessment - definition & methodology. Anesth Analg 2004;99:6267, 17. LCA's are completed particularly in relation to how to develop a sustainable world where less waste and more reuse is implemented. Ask a worker if you can put them in the bin by themselves or if they need to be in a recyclable container to protect sanitation workers from being cut. Life cycle assessment software I used GaBi 6 software, produced by PE International. There are land, air, and water-based transportation methods. 8 John Adam Street Can J Anaesth 2001;48:40912, 22. Overall, while the materials for disposable razors are few, and the products basic design makes it appear simplistic, the products lifecycle is far from simple. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a process of evaluating the effects that a product has on the environment over the entire period of its life thereby increasing resource-use efficiency and decreasing liabilities. 1982, www.nytimes.com/1982/04/11/business/how-bic-lost-the-edge-to-gillette.html. However, it is fairly easy to find what the disposable razors components are made of, due to its simplicity. Polystyrene is not biodegradable and takes hundreds of years to break down. Safety Razor. How Products Are Made www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Safety-Razor.html. Chain Management by Life Cycle Assessment (CMLCA) software has been used to conduct the LCA and Ecoinvent 2.01 has been used for life cycle inventory data. 15 - 21 Our group recently performed a life cycle assessment of anesthetic drug trays, finding that reusable trays were both environmentally and . Through an examination of how the raw materials: carbide steel, tungsten steel, and a combination of the plastics: polypropylene, polystyrene, and phenylene oxide of the razors decompose, and how much waste is accumulated in making the razors, an assessment can be made for the duration of their life cycle. Select patients who are highly infective warrant the choice of disposable devices; however, data do not support selecting disposables for all patients to avoid any possible risk of infection. What Is Polystyrene? LMA North America. Previous studies have examined the relative environmental profiles of reusables and disposables with regard to medical textiles7 and anesthetic drug trays.8 The present study uses life cycle assessment to evaluate the life cycle impacts of disposable and reusable LMAs across several categories of environmental and human health impacts. Its an extremely strong and durable metal compound, making it perfect for the use of razor blades (Siddle, How Is Tungsten Carbide Formed?; Tungsten Carbide. Wikipedia.org). Conversely, impacts can be reduced by autoclaving more LMAs at once or with other equipment with similar decontamination requirements. What does a business area's assessment of agreements, income, and value implicate? After the plastic body is manufactured it goes through inspections similar to ones the blades go through. What IS Life Cycle Assessment? Disposable and reusable LMAs typically differ in material composition, packaging, reuse, and cost. 2006 have considered a process water flow of 10,000 m3/day for a time period of 15 years (system design life) as the function unit used in order to compare the different wastewater treatment processes . 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. Once extracted, the tungsten is then shipped to a desired location for it to be manufactured into the metal compound. 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). Yet, as they are designed to be thrown away after use, a question is raised of their fast accumulating waste and its impact on the environment. BIC says its product beats out other models by 59 percent. To go from raw materials to final product involves many steps and heavy energy input. Highly effective in driving partnerships, public policies and projects that accelerate the shift towards a sustainable built environment.