What Happened To Laurie Metcalf, What Is The Rising Action Of Amigo Brothers, Articles L

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). There are three main materials used in the plastic handle and the cartridge of the disposable razor. Because the human health impacts of the disposable LMAs are dominated by plastics, increasing the amount of PVC by 10% leads to a significant (>5%) increase in cancer and noncancer effects. LMA North America. Comparison of the single use and reusable intubating laryngeal mask airway. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2009;53:6878, 19. Phase 3: Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Our LCA team retains its reputation as the most experienced life cycle staff in North America. endstream endobj startxref mmw*vA|5v*3n9IUt){e%!HN6@` xcr@pz*Fbiq%1!TJ-CF*1OS|UZU\vQL7M?m'b-,r~S}Y&/{#U6U)S|%q[RB !3j~tj$h>5qtsJ./j?;eosyy*"Z`'wG"M6]O}UKqw[LzY9e B,s&C4++_tI~& Me*lNU"Uigq\u7{:&VNC'rT]FB5jOa.%N%1*stBC]%y&RDs"#&iUX&?8sh:wJo ZjbO|KFmfC{:oX~'b> Phenylene oxide, or PPO, is another common plastic material used in disposable razors. Anesth Analg 1998;87:921, 3. Swiss Center for Life Cycle Inventories. Alternate assumptions were used to test model sensitivity and to create bounds to aid interpretation of the results (Table 2). 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 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. Since BICs products do not go to a single location it is impossible to give an exact number for BICs energy usage in transportation. The materials used in the production of disposable razors are limited due to the products simplicity however, many of the materials are unsustainable in that they are not biodegradable or easily recyclable, and require heavy energy input to manufacture. 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? The metal liquid then goes through a strengthening process called annealing. 2019, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/polystyrene-recycling.htm. When you take your blades in to the scrap metal center, choose the steel recycling bin. 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). Iatrogenic transmission of the CreutzfeldtJakob disease agent has been reported in >250 patients worldwide, and 6 of these were linked to the use of contaminated equipment, all of which were neurosurgical related. Finally, the assessment will be carried out on the new design to assess if it has a lower impact than the other options analysed. A Comparison Life Cycle Assessment between Razor Blade and Electric Shaver. Dec. 2012. Once all the components of the razor have been made, the components go to various stations where different tasks will be performed. 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. 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. 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. A Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable Razors. BIC Group, 2016, Sustainable Development Report. 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. Anaesthesia 2000;55:7001, 18. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 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. However, the LCA is not an exact science and has its limitations: The total amount of Direct emissions from BIC factories was 8,689 tonnes of carbon dioxide (For You For Everyone Registration Document). Address e-mail to [emailprotected]. Anesth Analg 1993;77:1079, 21. Park Ridge, IL: American Society of Anesthesiologists, 1999, 15. Atlanta, 2012. A comparative cradle to grave life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to determine and analyze the environmental impacts of using disposable acrylic speculums versus using reusable stainless-steel speculums in a women's university health clinic where around 5,000 pelvic exams are conducted on a yearly basis. To bring the metal to its final form, it is heated to extremely high temperatures to remove the binders, and to mold the metal particles together, in turn, creating a very strong and durable metal compound (Siddle, How Is Tungsten Carbide Formed?). This manuscript was handled by: Steven L. Shafer, MD. The stability of the plastic components, while necessary for shelf stability and use, takes longer than one persons life-span to decompose. Contribution: This author helped design the study, analyze the data, and prepare the manuscript. In their study of Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment technologies treating petroleum process waters, Vlaopolous et al. 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. 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). Poly(Phenylene Oxide). The Polymer Science Learning Center, www.pslc.ws/macrog/ppo.htm. Gillette's slogan 'Gillette - the best a man can get' is famous the world over. We performed a life cycle assessment of 2 analogous LMAs, the disposable LMA Unique and the reusable LMA Classic, according to internationally accepted standard life cycle assessment methods (ISO 14040: 2006). Gillette Plastic Disposable Shaving Kit supermax, for Hotel. 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). Highlights By raising awareness and creating locations where one can drop off used razors for recycling, perhaps a change can come. Each razor can last up to 12 gentle shaves. This break-even point will change depending on the category of environmental impact being considered. Kaplan, Desire. 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. 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. Olsen, Alexandra. This project is a collaboration between the Great Recovery Programme and Fab Lab London. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2001;6:7680, 13. However, of the 2 billion razors disposed of annually, about 32% end up in the ocean (Kaplan). Packaging is an . There are some solutions and new recycling ideas, yet, the reduction of waste for disposable razors is still far off. American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Task Force on Infection Control. Each time the steam autoclave machine conducts a sterilizing cycle, a large amount of energy is used to heat the steam. : Uses, Benefits, and Safety Facts.ChemicalSafetyFacts.org, 17 June 2019, www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/polystyrene/. 2002/03 and 2005/06, to include an assessment of the effects of a range of behavioural assumptions on the life cycle environmental impacts of the reusable nappy types, and to compare these with each other and with modern disposable nappies. The mixed plastics used in most of the razor take hundreds of years to break down in landfill, and the blades, while the metal is recyclable if separated from the rest of the product, poses a safety hazard for both the consumer and the employees who handle recyclables. Anesthesiology 2003;99:1066, 6. 2011, Packaging Technology and Science. Define the Life-cycle This is an example of a simple product life-cycle diagram. Marinella Levi. Sensitivity and simple life cycle cost analyses were conducted to aid in interpretation of the results. The long and harmful life-cycle of disposable razors is not reflected to the buyer browsing aisles of fully stocked razor shelves. Experience spanning from the market-leading environment and climate practice of a global top 10 law firm - to leading Europe's largest . Part of this responsible shipping mentality forces them to change their packaging to be able to ship more at a time. 3 in Table 1). But this is expected from a large brand like Gillette. In this paper, this will be exactly what we will discuss, from what materials go into making a disposable razor and how they are made, to what happens to it after its tossed out, and all the energy and waste that is used and expelled throughout its lifecycle. BIC is a French manufacturing company that produces a variety of disposable consumer products like pens, lighters and disposable razors. A combination of transportation methods is used depending on where the product needs to go. The authors declare no conflict of interest. 2.Define the life-cycle The blade is made from a tungsten steel, and carbon alloy. The Eco-Indicator for EPDM rubber includes the manufacturing of the rubber as well as the molding process. 2. The largest difference in environmental impacts is seen in the impact category of carcinogenesis, in which reusable LMAs cause 5% of the impacts of disposable LMAs. 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 ]. Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of Disposable Bioreactors - BioProcess InternationalBioProcess International Upstream Processing Bioprocessing begins upstream, most often with culturing of animal or microbial cells in a range of vessel types (such as bags or stirred tanks) using different controlled feeding, aerating, and process strategies. 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).