life cycle assessment of disposable razors life cycle assessment of disposable razors

BIC has done their best to deal with waste in an environmentally conscious manner. BIC has reported their total energy usage and carbon footprint in their factories around the world, this was all however for the year 2016. Redesigning the Razor Life Cycle Assessment.The Great Recovery, www.greatrecovery.org.uk/resources/3682/. "Tungsten Processing." The specific type or blend of plastic for BIC razors is used is called polystyrene (Europe). Case Studies. Case Studies : Reducing BIC's Rejection Rates | KEYENCE America, www.keyence.com/solutions/case-studies/bic.jsp. The autoclave was typically run with 5 LMAs, although loading varied significantly. DEHP is a plasticizer routinely added to impart flexibility to PVC-based products, such as IV bags, tubing, and endotracheal tubes. Figueredo E. Changes in the intracuff pressure of the laryngeal masks airway caused by repeated use. These impacts are quantified here in terms of energy use, water use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using general factors for US labor.22. 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. Online Course Life Cycle Assessment | MIT Professional Education : Uses, Benefits, and Safety Facts, ChemicalSafetyFacts.org,). We perform Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Critical Reviews in accordance with ISO 14040/44 for products and services. American Medical Association (AMA). The plastic, however stable for the user, remains stable long after it is thrown away as well. Any extra plastic will be discarded, remelted, and reused (Safety Razor, madehow.com). The blades and lubricating strip were too light to be measured with our equipment so their weights were rounded to 1g. Yet, tungsten has been found to deposit particles into the soil that causes some contamination, making it a recent concern to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. (PDF) Sources, Fate and Effects of Microplastics in the Marine Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a modeling tool for quantifying the environmental impacts of products and processes. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2001;6:7680, 13. your express consent. 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). (iii)What are the strategic lifecycle challenges for paramount's current products as well as for clean edge? 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. 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 . Address e-mail to [emailprotected]. Olsen, Alexandra. 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. BIC Group, 2016, For You For Everyone Registration Document. Your message has been successfully sent to your colleague. Atlanta, 2012. Contribution: This author helped conduct the study and analyze the data. We can see how the double edge safety razor has a much lower impact due to the low amount of parts and materials used and the fact that the blade can be separated from the rest of the body and recycled (reducing the overall impact of the product). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) measures the impact of products on the environment. After the products make their way to consumers and serve their purpose, the waste must be dealt with. Holes are then punched into the metal and the tapelike sheets of razors are then put in a roll (Manufacturing Processes). Life cycle assessment Plastics Europe Pollution of the oceans from plastics has become an increasingly large issue that researchers are still assessing. LCAs can be used comparatively to assess different product or service design options or to identify environmental . The sheets are then cut out using a process called die stamping, using a tool called a die stamp which is a special, one-of-a-kind precision tool that cuts and forms sheet metal into a desired shape or profile, where the blades are die stamped at a rate of 800-1,200 strokes a minute into the desired shape and size (Hedrick, Die Basics 101: Intro to Stamping.). 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 biggest impact during the cartridge-based razor life-cycle is manufacturing the cartridge as this is the part which is hardest to make. The use of disposable razors is unsustainable with our growing population and increased demand. The study found that: The blades are then carefully sharpened to create the razor blades. A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Packaging for the Distribution of Italian Fruit and Vegetables. Differences in environmental impacts between devices may present a compelling consideration in their selection. By raising awareness and creating locations where one can drop off used razors for recycling, perhaps a change can come. 0 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. 21 offers from $5.20. 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. More immediate levels of waste, however, happen during the processing of disposable razors before they are even brought to the buyer and the landfill. 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 . 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. The differences in environmental impacts between these devices strongly favor reusable devices. To compile a detailed life cycle inventory of the environmental burdens 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). Life Cycle Assessment: Biopharma SUTs - BioProcess There could be hundreds of different sources for their materials. Features Downloads. In this paper, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used as a tool to quantify the environmental impacts of disposable medical face masks. This assessment is exceptionally useful as it shows the designer what areas are the most impactful during the products life cycle. This is where most of the complexity of an LCA is involved. 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. a Centers for Disease Control. J Clin Anesth 1997;9:432, 20. In my research, I was not able to find specifics about where BIC sources their materials, I believe that this is due to them being a global company. The alternatives are objects made of bio compostable plastic,. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 156 (2020) 104704. Can J Anaesth 2001;48:40912, 22. 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). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A Guide to Best Practice - ResearchGate BIC is a French manufacturing company that produces a variety of disposable consumer products like pens, lighters and disposable razors. Safety Razor. How Products Are Made, www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Safety-Razor.html. The main causes of the reusable LMA's environmental impacts are the steam used in the autoclave sterilizing machine and, to a lesser extent, the wastewater generated from washing the LMAs. B|$5 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. All of these equipment-related cases occurred before the routine implementation of sterilization procedures currently used in health care facilities. qILL@#nO @8 Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS).Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS), www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/polystyrene-ps-plastic. There are various ways that the product can get there. 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. (PDF) A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable - academia.edu Each manufacturing plant or node in the supply chain is referred to as agate-to-gate (GTG) life cycle inventory. 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. 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 All of these software packages and models are in widespread use by life cycle assessment practitioners in the US and internationally. It can be used to study the environmental impact of either a product or the function the product is designed to perform. Gillette Plastic Disposable Shaving Kit supermax, for Hotel. A 20-mL disposable syringe was used during device placement to inflate the cuffs of both types of LMAs to ensure proper fit, and a procedure was then performed. Disposable BIC razors are hollow and made using injection molding, but making the razors hollow is only possible because of the fluid nature of polystyrene (The Bic Razor, Still the Sharpest of the Bunch.). 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. Since then, around 60 billion razors have been produced, distributed, and sold worldwide. 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. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cjd/qa_cjd_infection_control.htm. Anaesth Intensive Care 2010;38:538, 9. Anesthesia & Analgesia114(5):1067-1072, May 2012. It all starts with the melting and combining of the desired metal. If the reusable LMA is discarded prematurely, e.g., after 20 uses,16 the unit cost increases to $13 per unit, but decreases to $5.50 if the lifetime can be extended to 80 uses. The purpose of this assessment is to compare two different types of razors: cartridge based vs. double edge safety razor. Amazon.com: Bulk Disposable Razors Policy H-135.945: Encouraging Alternatives to PVC/DEHP Products in Health. Life Cycle Impact Assessment is the estimation of indicators of the environmental pressures in terms of e.g. However, of the 2 billion razors disposed of annually, about 32% end up in the ocean (Kaplan). 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. How Is Tungsten Carbide Formed? Chronicle, 20 Aug. 2015, chronicle.kennametal.com/how-is-tungsten-carbide-formed/. Each time the steam autoclave machine conducts a sterilizing cycle, a large amount of energy is used to heat the steam. This is shown through their commitment to their eco-design process and new recycling programs that are undergoing testing. The life cycle for disposable razors must first be assessed by the products design. 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. They have also reduced shipping time, by only sending the blades from Greece to Mexico to optimize the tools and products available in each location, instead of having all the materials shipped to each factory. Life Cycle Assessment - definition & methodology. Health care facilities can decrease their environmental impacts by using reusable LMAs, by selecting disposable LMA models that are not made of certain plastics, and by ordering in bulk from local distributors. The extraction and consumption of resources (including energy), as well as releases to air, water, and soil, are quantified throughout all stages. 39 ($0.37/Count) FREE delivery Thu, Mar 2 on $25 of items shipped by Amazon. However, we can discuss the energy usage of different modes of transportation. Safety Assessment of Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) Released from PVC Medical Devices. Poly(p-Phenylene Oxide). Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly(p-phenylene_oxide). 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 . : Uses, Benefits, and Safety Facts.ChemicalSafetyFacts.org, 17 June 2019, www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/polystyrene/. Eckelman, Matthew PhD*; Mosher, Margo; Gonzalez, Andres; Sherman, Jodi MD. Life cycle assessment of bio-based products: a disposable diaper case Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Solid Waste Management Consultants A life-cycle inventory of cloth and disposable diapers was conducted based on diapering habits in Canada The parameters evaluated were energy consumption, water consumption, raw materials 15 Crop water use and water use efficiency on irrigated cotton farms in Australia S. Tennakoon, S. Milroy Environmental Science 2003 93 Life Cycle Assessment | EcoAct Poly(Phenylene Oxide). The Polymer Science Learning Center, www.pslc.ws/macrog/ppo.htm. 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 International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. However, BIC did report some of its transportation statistics. 3. Reducing Trichloroethylene (TCE) Waste in the Fabricated Metals Sector.EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 9 Aug. 2016, www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/reducing-trichloroethylene-tce-waste-fabricated-metals-sector. Their disposable nature causes them to be put into landfills faster than it takes them to be made, packaged, and shipped. This break-even point will change depending on the category of environmental impact being considered. In BIC factories they pride themselves in producing a quality product, so the blades go through a series of highly precise visual inspections with cameras which help with rejecting blades that do not meet BIC standards (Case Studies) After that they go through visual inspection is done be BIC employees to reject any blades that the cameras were not rejected by the inspection camera system, the blades are then send off to be coated and burned. 3 Ways to Recycle Safety Razor Blades - wikiHow Life 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). 3.7.Product Life Cycle Analysis . WC2N 6EZ, Redesigning the razor Life Cycle Assessment. The backbone of LCA is the life cycle inventory (LCI), an analysis of material and energy ows resulting from all phases of the product life cycle. Amazon Best Sellers: Best Men's Disposable Shaving Razors Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Metal materials are sent for smelting and conversion to new alloys (Terracycle). The reusable LMA was found to have a more favorable environmental profile than the disposable LMA as used at Yale New Haven Hospital. Choosing a less-green disposable will magnify your razor's manufacturing impact, but it won't change the overall picture very much. Disposable razors are a product that can be found in almost any average bathroom. Goodman EJ, Haas AJ. What's the greenest way to shave? - Slate Magazine Wages are then spent on food, entertainment, transport, and other economic activities that themselves have environmental impacts. 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. 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 long and harmful life-cycle of disposable razors is not reflected to the buyer browsing aisles of fully stocked razor shelves. There is also an additional resin called fluorine resin that is applied to the blades, which allows them to freely glide on the skin. The 2 LMA options are nearly equivalent in terms of eutrophication impacts, but with different contributions. 2.Define the life-cycle Disposable Blood Warmer Market 2023-2030 Future Forecasts When designing a product for circularity it is often difficult to know where to begin. Anesth Analg 2012;114:105566, 8. Die Basics 101: Intro to Stamping. The Fabricators, 18 July 2018, www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/article/stamping/die-basics-101-intro-to-stamping. 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. Choosing models that use alternate materials is recommended, particularly because the American Medical Association is urging hospitals and health systems to reduce their use of PVC products, especially those containing DEHP.26 The shipment of LMAs by air also greatly increased overall impacts, pointing to a strategy of bulk ordering from local distributors well in advance of use, and avoiding overnight shipment whenever possible. Gillette's slogan 'Gillette - the best a man can get' is famous the world over. Scope of the life cycle assessment for disposable and reusable laryngeal mask airways (LMAs). This means that it takes around 1 BTU to heat a 0.035-ounce razor blade to the desired temperature (Julabo et.al). These results will then be used to inform the design process and improve the redesigned razor. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011, 16. Tungsten Carbide. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungsten_carbide. BIC said that around 98 percent of its intercompany product transfer was done by transportation methods that were not related to air-freight (For You For Everyone Registration Document). associated with the environmental interventions attributable to the life-cycle of a product. The next step the blade goes through is called polishing in which is done using strops made out of cowhide to get the desired blade edge shape, the blade is then cut into the sizes of the individual blades, which are then sent off to be inspected. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - Complete Beginner's Guide - Ecochain GaBi is a LCA software that allows its users to connect environmental impacts to a product across its lifespan.