life cycle assessment of disposable razors

life cycle assessment of disposable razors

There are three main components in a disposable razor. Anesth Analg 1993;77:1079, 21. The Bic USAs company website provides information about the making of the razors in the factories, regarding their inspection and factory standards, yet there is no mention for the environmental impact of the disposal. The Great Recovery was a project by the RSA working with Innovate UK which ran between 2012 and 2016. Bic Disposable Razor (1975). Plastics News Europe, 19 Nov. 2009, www.plasticsnewseurope.com/article/20091119/PNE/311199986/bic-disposable-razor-1975. The natural half life of a large stock of reusable laryngeal mask airways at a teaching hospital. An exact number for the energy use for BIC was not obtained. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) Hazard Summary. Finally, the assessment will be carried out on the new design to assess if it has a lower impact than the other options analysed. Disposable razors are a product that can be found in almost any average bathroom. 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. 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/. The life of a typical razor blade is not an easy one. "Tungsten Processing." Flying staff to meetings, shipping, and distributing the product is the highest offender for the planet. Ecoinvent 2.2. To go from raw materials to final product involves many steps and heavy energy input. Case Studies. Case Studies : Reducing BIC's Rejection Rates | KEYENCE America, www.keyence.com/solutions/case-studies/bic.jsp. For me, I had a few extra bits of plastic that I snapped off because they . Decision makers have typically favored disposable LMAs because the purchase price is perceived to be less for a comparable quantity of disposable LMAs, in comparison with 1 reusable LMA with its associated labor costs for in-house reprocessing.6. After the products make their way to consumers and serve their purpose, the waste must be dealt with. 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. Redesigning the Razor Life Cycle Assessment. The Great Recovery, http://www.greatrecovery.org.uk/resources/3682/. Terracycle is a company that was created to address the issue of recyclable products that often end up in landfills. 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). PurposeIn this study, a life cycle assessment of a bioplastic based diaper was performed. However, BIC did report some of its transportation statistics. 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, 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. Since then, around 60 billion razors have been produced, distributed, and sold worldwide. The razors are mainly made of plastic, so they will be decomposing at a very slow rate in the landfill. The Nation's Freight: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. They are resins that maintain a high dimensional stability, which helps create fast and cheap plastic razor handles (Safety Razor). This is where the razors are portioned into their desired packaging amounts, that will be sent off to consumers. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 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). London The metal is then heated and then cooled slowly to remove any internal stress, which makes it tougher, this process is called annealing (Safety Razor). Int Anesthesiol Clin 2010;48:139, 24. This document is an update and merger of two previous EPA documents on LCA ("Life Cycle Assessment: Inventory Guidelines and Principles," EPA/600/R-92/245, and "LCA101" from the LCAccess, website . This means that it takes around 1 BTU to heat a 0.035-ounce razor blade to the desired temperature (Julabo et.al). Park Ridge, IL: American Society of Anesthesiologists, 1999, 15. The remaining percentage is split up between energy consumption in their three facilities in: Clichy (France), Shelton (U.S.), and Cajamar (Brazil) (For You For Everyone: Registration Document, Bic). disposable paper diaper; material recycling; closed-loop recycling; life cycle assessment (LCA) 1. The majority of eutrophication impacts from disposable LMAs are from deposition of nitrogen oxide particulates from electricity generation and waste incineration, and impacts for the reusable LMA are nearly all from wastewater used in the cleaning process. Contribution: This author helped conduct the study and analyze the data. Polystyrene is not biodegradable and takes hundreds of years to break down. The product doesnt contain any material labels, so the materials have been assumed to be low alloy steel for the body, PP for the plastic parts of the body, EPDM rubber for the grip and an acrylic polymer coating for the lubricating band. The tungsten carbide is then ground into an extremely fine powder in a wet mill process, where metal binders and other metals such as cobalt may be added to increase the metals strength and durability and to help hold the powder together when it is shaped. The Eco-Indicator for EPDM rubber includes the manufacturing of the rubber as well as the molding process. 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. My next blog post will show some design recommendations using sketches and 3D-printed prototypes. Teoh W, Lim Y. Contrary to common expectation, hair is actually pretty hard. hb```X ea i:=3*?a_.k7#uq-u[JRP erle@@)`EkP;~ cdC58xiv06@Jup E Next, the razors will be tested for flaws, strength, and razor hardness and sharpness (Safety Razor, madehow.com). Each time the steam autoclave machine conducts a sterilizing cycle, a large amount of energy is used to heat the steam. Rogers, Tony. Phase 3: Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Subramaniar Trading Company. 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. 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 [] 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. A SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY FOR ACCURATE DESIGN-STAGE ESTIMATION OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR INJECTION MOLDED PARTS. 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. The studies have not found it to be harmful to drinking water, or public safety, however, it is an ongoing research of soil data that continues. Chu L, Mathur P, Trudell J, Brock-Utne J. Recycling of Polypropylene (PP). AZoCleantech.com, 25 June 2012, www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=240. A life cycle assessment or analysis according to ISO 14040/14044 is an instrument of environmental and sustainability management. 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). Once in the landfill, it usually takes around 20-30 years to breakdown. 2019, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/polystyrene-recycling.htm. 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. Ann Fr Anesth Reanim 2006;25:8114, 7. 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. 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. Production of razor blades across the industry is fairly standard. %PDF-1.5 % Cargo planes and other transport aircraft use jet fuel which produces 135,000 BTU per gallon (Energy Consumption by Mode of Transportation.). J Environ Assess Policy Manage 2000;2:45376, 2. 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). 769 0 obj <>stream For You For Everyone: Registration Document.Bic World, Bic, 2016, www.bicworld.com/sites/default/files/2017-03/BIC_DRF2016_EN.pdf. The life cycle for disposable razors must first be assessed by the products design. qILL@#nO @8 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 metal is not yet to its final form, as it is still greatly held together by the previously added binders. 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). The blades are then carefully sharpened to create the razor blades. Overall, reusable LMAs were found to have fewer negative environmental effects in nearly all categories, typically contributing <50% of the impacts of disposable LMAs. Finally, the need for manual labor in the cleaning process of reusable LMAs contributed to the costs of these LMAs. The life cycle assessment software package SimaPro 7.3.2 was used to conduct our analysis.10 The majority of inventory data were drawn from the ecoinvent v2.2 life cycle inventory database.11 Impacts were assessed using the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability v4.02 impact assessment method,12 which encompasses both environmental concerns (such as climate change, acid rain and smog formation, water use, and ozone depletion) and human-health-related impacts (such as cancer and noncancer ailments and emission of criteria air pollutants). Holes are then punched into the metal and the tapelike sheets of razors are then put in a roll (Manufacturing Processes). 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. Assessing all steps in that life cycle provides insight into individual stresses and burden shifts from one step to another and enables understanding of both the cumulative environmental impacts and related trade-offs in each area, throughout the lifespan of both a facility and its manufactured products. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to identify the environmental risks of existing and planned products, services and manufacturing processes as well as identify strategic improvement opportunities. LCA for product sustainability. Recommendations for Infection Control for the Practice of Anesthesiology. 761 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[]/Index[748 22]/Info 747 0 R/Length 72/Prev 421064/Root 749 0 R/Size 770/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream 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). Siddle, Dave. We are proud that it is among the leading professional LCA software . 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). 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). These steps are not necessarily conducted in succession, but iteratively. Sets Strategy to End 'Staggering' Garbage Crisis.The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Sept. 1988, www.nytimes.com/1988/09/23/us/epa-sets-strategy-to-end-staggering-garbage-crisis.html. All that is needed is the insertion of the razor blade into the plastic body. Amersfoort, The Netherlands: Product Ecology (PR) Consultants, 2011, 11. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 rev, 25. Put the blades in the steel recycling section. There are 3 key tasks in this step. What Is Tungsten Carbide?" hbbd``b`z$k@D 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. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cjd/qa_cjd_infection_control.htm. In this case its the life-cycle of the cartridge-based razor.

Anthropologie Home Outlet California, Tony And Andrew Terraciano, Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn Vegetarian, Hockey East Coaches Salaries, Recently Solved Cold Cases 2021, Articles L