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 metal liquid then goes through a strengthening process called annealing. Once in the landfill, it usually takes around 20-30 years to breakdown. 3.7.Product Life Cycle Analysis . BIC has noted however that they strive to be as efficient with materials used when it comes to their packaging. Chu L, Mathur P, Trudell J, Brock-Utne J. The next step in the process is the assembly of all the parts. Policy H-135.945: Encouraging Alternatives to PVC/DEHP Products in Health. With the amount of waste accumulated from the factories and the bulk of the razors ending up in landfills and oceans, a low price of $1 removes the buyer from how high the cost on the environment a disposable razor is. The study found that: For You for Everyone Registration Document. The steps in LCA are (1) goal and scope definition, (2) life cycle inventory analysis (LCI), (3) life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and (4) interpretation of the results. Life-cycle assessment stages Ecoinvent 2.2. 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). 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. WC2N 6EZ, Redesigning the razor Life Cycle Assessment. 13, 14 There are few published life cycle assessment studies of medical items (ref. The final product is then gathered and prepared to go through the final step which is the packaging of razors. These results suggest that the reusable LMA Classic has fewer life cycle impacts in comparison with the disposable LMA Unique at Yale New Haven Hospital, across several categories of concern. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy. The Environmental Protection Agency classifies DEHP as a probable carcinogen, and as a possible endocrine disrupter.24 The FDA issued an advisory in 2002 recommending steps be taken to reduce the risk of exposure to DEHP in certain populations.25 There is enough evidence of reproductive and developmental toxicant effects from DEHP for the FDA to recommend alternatives for patients deemed at high risk, namely infants, toddlers, and pregnant and lactating women. 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 use of LCA to introduce life-cycle thinking into decision-making for the purchase of medical devices in the NHS. Individually autoclaving the reusable LMA (because of stock shortages, for example) increased life cycle GHG emissions by >400%, whereas loading with 10 LMAs per cycle decreased emissions by nearly 25%. 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). 2. associated with the environmental interventions attributable to the life-cycle of a product. LeBlanc, Rick. Finally, inclusion of the environmental impacts of labor for cleaning (from wages spent on goods and services) only nominally increases the total GHG and water impacts of reusable LMAs. All of these software packages and models are in widespread use by life cycle assessment practitioners in the US and internationally. On the Venus Gillette company website, they provide the buyer with a guide for choosing which razor is best by asking: When it comes to choosing a razor, how do you know if a disposable or reusable razor is right for you? (What's the Difference Between Disposable and Reusable Razors for Women? Venus)This question, however, only affects the buyers short usage time, and does not provide any information as to the rest of the razors life-cycle after they are ready for a new razor blade and they: throw away the entire razor and grab a new one as recommended by the manufacturer (Venus). What Is Tungsten Carbide or Hard Metal? AZoM.com, 2 Aug. 2009, https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4827. 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. Anaesth Intensive Care 2004;32:5304, 4. 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. A Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable Razors. 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). 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. Due to the nature of the disposable razor, they are usually just thrown in the trash and sent off to a landfill. 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. BIC states that it prides itself on producing affordable, safe, and quality razors for its customers worldwide. a 4.1% (Bic). The company urges users to mail packages over 15 lbs., in order to reduce the waste of mail as well, yet is not necessary. 1. Finally, the need for manual labor in the cleaning process of reusable LMAs contributed to the costs of these LMAs. 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. Accessed 28 Nov. 2019. www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/article/stamping/die-basics-101-intro-to-stamping, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/07/landfill-waste-how-prevent-disposable-razor-plastic-pollution/1943345001/, http://www.greatrecovery.org.uk/resources/3682/, www.plasticsnewseurope.com/article/20091119/PNE/311199986/bic-disposable-razor-1975, www.nytimes.com/1982/04/11/business/how-bic-lost-the-edge-to-gillette.html, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemical-engineering/polyphenylene-oxides, www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-03/documents/ffrrofactsheet_contaminant_tungsten_january2014_final.pdf, www.kai-group.com/global/en/kai-factory/process/razor/, www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/reducing-trichloroethylene-tce-waste-fabricated-metals-sector, www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Safety-Razor.html, www.recyclingtoday.com/article/the-recycling-potential-of-polypropylene/, www.ssab.com/company/sustainability/sustainable-offering/steel-life-cycle?di=discover21C927E58ECC41198B78D915F7E3E2AF, BEHR Oil Based Interior/Exterior Primer and Sealer, California Academy of Sciences Living Roof Life Cycle, UC Davis Social Sciences and Humanities Building, A-Z List for Digital & Electronics Topics. Alternate assumptions were used to test model sensitivity and to create bounds to aid interpretation of the results (Table 2). No such cases have been reported since 1976.a There is no reported case of iatrogenic infection of any type linked to a reusable LMA. 39 ($0.37/Count) FREE delivery Thu, Mar 2 on $25 of items shipped by Amazon. This is known as a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) This can be extremely complex because it can involve dozens of separate processes, as well as hundreds of tracked substances. f'C58NQ}i:]1 $Nh@b8H|iWILGgj{J27]Xp0N@h+ !` >q The plastic handle and head of the disposable razor consists of a hybrid of polypropylene, polystyrene, and phenylene oxide, also known as PPO. To begin the process of creating the metal, the tungsten is purified and ground into a fine powder. 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. On the basis of information provided by the distributing company, the disposable LMA was manufactured in Hangzhou, China, and the reusable LMA was manufactured in Singapore. 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. Differences in environmental impacts between devices may present a compelling consideration in their selection. There are three main materials used in the plastic handle and the cartridge of the disposable razor. 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). J Environ Assess Policy Manage 2000;2:45376, 2. 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. Once Terracycle has collected the waste, it is: broken down and separated by material. 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 . Tungsten Carbide. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungsten_carbide. The use of disposable razors is unsustainable with our growing population and increased demand. There are so many variables that you have to take into account when calculating how much of an impact a product is having on the environment and our resources. Sensitivity and simple life cycle cost analyses were conducted to aid in interpretation of the results. 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. Gillette Plastic Disposable Shaving Kit supermax, for Hotel. 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. We perform Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Critical Reviews in accordance with ISO 14040/44 for products and services. . The Bic Razor, Still the Sharpest of the Bunch. Plastics Le Mag, 31 Jan. 2017, plastics-themag.com/The-Bic-razor-still-the-sharpest-of-the-bunch. Anaesth Intensive Care 2010;38:538, 9. This LCA is specific for surgical gowns used in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota.