Packaging is an . Staff, Creative Mechanisms. 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. BIC has repeatedly come under fire because of the environmental impact their disposable razors have, due to the sheer amount of their disposable products are used every year. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - Complete Beginner's Guide - Ecochain 3. Soulias M, Martin L, Garnier N, Juniot A, Aho L, Freysz M. Disposable vs reusable laryngeal mask airway: a cost-minimization analysis. Manufacturing Processes (RAZOR): KAI FACTORY: KAI Group. KAI FACTORY | KAI Group, www.kai-group.com/global/en/kai-factory/process/razor/. 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. Life Cycle Assessments - Diaper Answers 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. Life cycle assessment - Environmental Assessment and Optimization Group Reusable LMAs were collected in a dirty device bin on the anesthesia cart and then reprocessed by the anesthesia technicians. In this paper, many details about the life cycle stages were not included. Experience spanning from the market-leading environment and climate practice of a global top 10 law firm - to leading Europe's largest . Sustainable Development at BIC . 6 Jan. 2011. 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, Certain practices would further reduce the environmental impacts of reusable LMAs, such as increasing the number of devices autoclaved in a single cycle to 10 (25% GHG emissions) and improving the energy efficiency of the autoclaving machines by 10% (8% GHG emissions). Table 2 shows the results of alternate assumption on the overall results. Marinella Levi. 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. B|$5 BIC Disposable Razor Design Life-Cycle How Does Polystyrene Recycling Work?HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 4 Apr. In the late 1990s, disposable LMAs became available. 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. Life Cycle Approach to Plastic Pollution - Life Cycle Initiative Here, Great Recovery Intern Sebastian de Cabo Portugal discusses Life Cycle Assessments. The study found that: Overall BIC is an industry leader when it comes to reducing the environmental impact that their disposable products make. 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. 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. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. LCA for product sustainability. Where regulations permit, disposal of LMA-related waste as regular municipal waste, as opposed to biohazardous waste, should also reduce the adverse health effects stemming from medical waste incineration. The metal that can be used in the cartridge is also cut out during this stage. 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 is where most of the complexity of an LCA is involved. Goodman EJ, Haas AJ. The life cycle of plastics Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers the environmental aspects associated with a product over its lifespan. The more capital-intensive option of increasing the energy efficiency of the autoclave machines by 10% decreases GHG emissions by 8%. The carbon footprint reported was separated into two sections which are direct and indirect emissions. International Sympsium on Sustainable Systems and Technology. Comparative life cycle assessment of disposable and reusable - PubMed 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. Swiss Center for Life Cycle Inventories. Life cycle assessment of a disposable and a reusable surgery instrument Recommendations for Infection Control for the Practice of Anesthesiology. All of which provides an easy user experience, but, takes a toll on the planet. They have estimated that they expend around 11.77 gigajoules of energy per ton of their products that they produce (For You For Everyone Registration Document) The BIC report also categorized the energy where they obtained the energy. your express consent. Conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): from Theory to Practical 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). Here we present a life cycle assessment of 2 laryngeal mask airways (LMAs), a one-time-use disposable Unique LMA and a 40-time-use reusable Classic LMA. Poly(p-Phenylene Oxide). Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly(p-phenylene_oxide). How Long Will It Take That Bag of Trash to Decompose in a Landfill?The Balance Small Business, The Balance Small Business, 22 Oct. 2019, www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033#plastic-waste. Phoenix: IEEE, 2008, 23. Choosing a less-green disposable will magnify your razor's manufacturing impact, but it won't change the overall picture very much. In their study of Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment technologies treating petroleum process waters, Vlaopolous et al. However, of the 2 billion razors disposed of annually, about 32% end up in the ocean (Kaplan). Ison E, Miller A. For both environmental and cost considerations, management and operating procedures should be put in place to ensure that reusable LMAs are not discarded prematurely. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 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. A life cycle assessment or analysis according to ISO 14040/14044 is an instrument of environmental and sustainability management. BIC currently holds around 11 percent market share in disposable razors (Nash). SimaPro 7.3.2. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cjd/qa_cjd_infection_control.htm. 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 . Gillette Sensor3 Sensitive Men's Disposable Razors : Target Life Cycle Assessment: Disposable paper cups by Shanice Robbins 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. A Life Cycle Assessment of Reusable and Single-Use Central V - LWW Using BEES to select cost-effective green products. Life cycle assessment is a "cradle-to-grave" approach for determining the financial and environmental costs of a product over its entire life. The total amount of Direct emissions from BIC factories was 8,689 tonnes of carbon dioxide (For You For Everyone Registration Document). Data Uncertainty. The blade is made from a tungsten steel, and carbon alloy. However, it is fairly easy to find what the disposable razors components are made of, due to its simplicity. 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. More immediate levels of waste, however, happen during the processing of disposable razors before they are even brought to the buyer and the landfill. BIC is a French manufacturing company that produces a variety of disposable consumer products like pens, lighters and disposable razors. After that the blades go through a blade edging process, which consists of the blade strips first being coarsely ground by whetstone, second being ground at an angle with a finer whetstone, and then having the tip of the blades ground (Manufacturing Processes). Overall, reusable LMAs were found to have fewer negative environmental effects in nearly all categories, typically contributing <50% of the impacts of disposable LMAs. 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 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. :396?Qkt)e. It can be used to study the environmental impact of either a product or the function the product is designed to perform. By raising awareness and creating locations where one can drop off used razors for recycling, perhaps a change can come. Rogers, Tony. The environmental effects of labor are often omitted from life cycle assessment studies, but are included here as part of the sensitivity analysis. Despite the overall lower impacts of the reusable LMA, there are still several ways that its environmental profile could be improved, as suggested by the results shown in Table 2. Weissman, Alexander, et al. The majority of life cycle human health impacts of disposable LMAs are caused by PVC use in packaging and the device itself. For You For Everyone: Registration Document.Bic World, Bic, 2016, www.bicworld.com/sites/default/files/2017-03/BIC_DRF2016_EN.pdf. Highly effective in driving partnerships, public policies and projects that accelerate the shift towards a sustainable built environment. Click the image for pricing & more info. 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. Define the Life-cycle This is an example of a simple product life-cycle diagram. What's the Difference Between Disposable and Reusable Razors for Women?Venus, www.gillettevenus.com/en-us/womens-shaving-guide/learning-to-shave/disposable-razors-vs-refillable-razors/. This liquid material is then injected into moulds, or extruded through moulds, where it will cool and take the form of the desired cartridge and handle shape. With the results we supply the basis for strategic decisions for sustainable action. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2001;6:7680, 13. Applying this method of assessment is complex and difficult and translating the theory into a . 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. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - Europa The natural half life of a large stock of reusable laryngeal mask airways at a teaching hospital. 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. 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 manuscript was handled by: Steven L. Shafer, MD. It takes a lifetime perspective LCA takes into consideration all the steps that lead from raw material through manufacture, distribution and usage to final disposal. Life cycle assessment comparison among different reuse intensities for Terracycle. For example, LCA results can tell us if one product is environmentally preferable to another . Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely-used technique to comprehensively assess the impacts of a product or a process on the environment and acts as an effective tool in gauging the. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 rev, 25. Interpretation of results The last step in the process is to interpret the results and compare them against each other. Life Cycle Assessment Explained - STiCH PDF Life Cycle Assessments of Single- Versus Multiple-use Surgical Gowns Aj 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. This is only the operational energy consumption, but you still have to take into account all the energy used in the design and installation of the machinery.
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