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The long and harmful life-cycle of disposable razors is not reflected to the buyer browsing aisles of fully stocked razor shelves. 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 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. This means that it takes around 1 BTU to heat a 0.035-ounce razor blade to the desired temperature (Julabo et.al). Cargo planes and other transport aircraft use jet fuel which produces 135,000 BTU per gallon (Energy Consumption by Mode of Transportation.). The hardest part of this whole process is the data gathering. 0 8tZ It all starts with the melting and combining of the desired metal. The tracking can come from sales, and in 2018 more than $1.2 billion in disposable razors were sold in the U.S., with varying prices but many disposables costing less than $1 each (Olsen). What does a business area's assessment of agreements, income, and value implicate? Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Inc., 26 Sept. 2012, www.britannica.com/technology/tungsten-processing#ref82029. They report their waste production being at 340 tons, which represented an increase of 22% from 2015 (Bic). 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). Everything You Need To Know About Polypropylene (PP) Plastic. Everything You Need To Know About Polypropylene (PP) Plastic, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/all-about-polypropylene-pp-plastic. Small components such as inks and labels on the packaging and on the sterilization indicator strips are expected to have negligible impacts and were excluded from the analysis. A 2005 analysis published by U.K. Ans: (i) Significant growth in industry of super premium segment . Camera visual inspection is performed and This is all to ensure BICs quality standards are being met and ensure a quality product. h[K#1}\$u@ The major problem with recycling this plastic however, is that during the heating process, the plastic degrades in quality making it less valuable (What Is Tungsten Carbide or Hard Metal?, AZoM.com). The next step is to temper the steel at a temperature of 482-752F (250- 400C) and pressed into thin sheets (Safety Razor, madehow.com). Sensitivity and simple life cycle cost analyses were conducted to aid in interpretation of the results. 85 percent of the energy came from electricity, 14 percent came from gas, and the rest came from fuel oil (For You For Everyone Registration Document). Metal materials are sent for smelting and conversion to new alloys (Terracycle). The results also suggest effective procurement strategies for reducing the impacts of disposable LMAs where they are selected. Any extra plastic will be discarded, remelted, and reused (Safety Razor, madehow.com). The number of BIC razors that are used by consumers is astounding. With such a fast accumulating waste and slow decomposition rate, there must be changes and incentive for companies to rethink the disposable razor. GaBi is a LCA software that allows its users to connect environmental impacts to a product across its lifespan. 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 . Despite its ability to be recycled, it often ends up in the landfill as many people dont know how to properly recycle it, people are too lazy to recycle, or the plastics arent labeled properly (Polypropylene. Wikipedia). Zhang TW, Dornfeld DA. 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. American Medical Association (AMA). Uncertainties about the correctness of the model. 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. 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. The metal is then quenched in water to bring it to -76 to -112 degrees Fahrenheit to harden the material (Safety Razor). Premature disposal of reusable LMAs has significant environmental impacts (as well as costs, discussed below). : Uses, Benefits, and Safety Facts, ChemicalSafetyFacts.org,). There are three main materials used in the plastic handle and the cartridge of the disposable razor. Once all the components of the razor have been made, the components go to various stations where different tasks will be performed. Gillette's slogan 'Gillette - the best a man can get' is famous the world over. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010. To make the handle and cartridges, these various plastics are heated together and melted together along with optional colorants and various filler materials. Policy H-135.945: Encouraging Alternatives to PVC/DEHP Products in Health. With the results we supply the basis for strategic decisions for sustainable action. The Eco-Indicator for EPDM rubber includes the manufacturing of the rubber as well as the molding process. Poly(Phenylene Oxide). The Polymer Science Learning Center, www.pslc.ws/macrog/ppo.htm. 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. After the products are packaged, there has to be a way for them to get to the end consumer. The Eco-Indicator method is a tool developed to help designers conduct a simplified LCA study. Where material types were unknown, proxies were assumed from relevant literature,2 although more detailed material information from suppliers would permit a more robust analysis. The extraction and consumption of resources (including energy), as well as releases to air, water, and soil, are quantified throughout all stages. `""(w If you count the actual razor cover (if you haven't lost it long ago) then it will be four pieces for recycling. Terracycle is a company that was created to address the issue of recyclable products that often end up in landfills. Hedrick, Art. 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). Some error has occurred while processing your request. Each razor can last up to 12 gentle shaves. Properly following the instructions it should (hopefully) leave you with three pieces, the handle, the metal blade, the plastic that was covering the blade. These containers, mainly wooden pallets and spools, are subject to European legislat 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. Alternate assumptions were used to test model sensitivity and to create bounds to aid interpretation of the results (Table 2). The environmental effects of labor are often omitted from life cycle assessment studies, but are included here as part of the sensitivity analysis. endstream endobj startxref Eckelman, Matthew PhD*; Mosher, Margo; Gonzalez, Andres; Sherman, Jodi MD. This points to the need for effective inventory control, which is also critical for the reusable devices because there needs to be a sufficient number clean and on hand while another batch is undergoing cleaning, sterilization, and cooling. On the basis of manufacturer information and density testing, the materials used in the 2 LMAs were identified and their compositions measured using a microgram scale (Table 1). Several waste management scenarios were also considered, including 100% landfilling and 100% incineration, because practices are highly location dependent. Manufacturer specifications indicate 20 kWh of electricity use for a 5-minute cycle at 135C. The plastic, however stable for the user, remains stable long after it is thrown away as well. There are many detailed stages but the main ones are: extracting and. From San Diego, both LMAs were assumed to be transported 4700 km by truck to New Haven, CT (70% of shipments in the US are made by truck).13. The buyer online is not exposed to the long lasting waste of the razors after they are thrown out. Contrary to common expectation, hair is actually pretty hard. Despite this, a general perception is that reusable LMAs possess a safety profile inferior to that of disposable LMAs, thus contributing to the proliferation of the latter. When you take your blades in to the scrap metal center, choose the steel recycling bin. Holes are then punched into the metal and the tapelike sheets of razors are then put in a roll (Manufacturing Processes). The high waste from manufacturing and shipping such a small, and cheap product is one that is negatively impacting the planet. The original LMA was a reusable device (Intavent International SA, Henley-on-Thames, UK). 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. However, we can discuss the energy usage of different modes of transportation. The data collected through LCA helps organizations make conscious decisions that affect the environment. Data is temporarily unavailable. From the *Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Department of Anesthesiology, Yale School of Medicine/YaleNew Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT. Funding: Department of Anesthesiology, Yale School of Medicine.