J Clin Anesth 1997;9:432, 20. a 4.1% (Bic). How One Company Keeps Used Razors Out Of Oceans.Green Matters, Green Matters, 25 Sept. 2017, www.greenmatters.com/news/2017/09/25/Z1oInGt/razors-ocean. A life cycle assessment or analysis according to ISO 14040/14044 is an instrument of environmental and sustainability management. 1.Establish the purpose of the Eco-Indicator calculations Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Transportation, 2002, 14. Eshwar Shop. The majority of eutrophication impacts from disposable LMAs are from deposition of nitrogen oxide particulates from electricity generation and waste incineration, and impacts for the reusable LMA are nearly all from wastewater used in the cleaning process. Rogers, Tony. The following document provides an introductory overview of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and describes the general uses and major components of LCA. Disposable razors are created for a short user time, and an easy answer to the growing populations fast paced lifestyles and needs for shaving: they are primarily designed to be simple, economical, and disposable (Safety Razor). The blade is made from a tungsten steel, and carbon alloy. However, BIC did report some of its transportation statistics. Plastics are cleaned and pelletized to be recycled into new products, such as picnic tables and park benches. Disposable Razors in Bulk, Bulk Razors with Knife Caps, Individually Packaged Disposable Razors Bulk, Suitable for Hotels, Shelters, Homeless People, Nursing Homes, Charities, Churches (60) 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (9) $22.39 $ 22. At 20 reuse cycles,16 the results indicate an increase in emissions of nearly 20%. There is uncertainty in several model assumptions. 1982, www.nytimes.com/1982/04/11/business/how-bic-lost-the-edge-to-gillette.html. Comparative environmental and human health (HH) impacts for disposable and reusable laryngeal mask airways (LMA), Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) impact assessment method. Safety Razor. How Products Are Made, www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Safety-Razor.html. B|$5 The polypropylene is sorted during recycling using a float test that separates it from other materials based on its ability to float due to its weight, then it is often melted down and reused in other product manufacturing. The blades, which are made from a carbide steel made using tungsten carbide, the handle, which is made from a combination of plastics such as polypropylene, polystyrene, and phenylene oxide (PPO), and the cartridge, which is made up of these plastics and sometimes the carbide steel as well (Safety Razor, madehow.com). After the products are packaged, there has to be a way for them to get to the end consumer. The environmental impacts of the 2 LMAs were estimated using SimaPro life cycle assessment software and the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability impact assessment method. During a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), environmental impacts are evaluated throughout the entire life cycle of a product (production, use and disposal or recovery).This also includes the upstream and downstream processes associated with production (e.g., the production of . 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. %PDF-1.5 % However, the viability of the disposable razor is always thrown into question because of the sheer amount of resources that it expends. Siddle, Dave. Chicago: American Medical Association, 2006, 27. 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 and reusable LMAs typically differ in material composition, packaging, reuse, and cost. 11 / Piece. The designed short user-time of disposable razors, causes their life cycle to be spent mostly in the landfill where they will remain for hundreds of years due to non-biodegradable plastic, however, recycling the plastic and steel is possible if sent to specific recycling facilities, which could reduce the life cycle and negative impact on the environment. 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. 15 - 21 Our group recently performed a life cycle assessment of anesthetic drug trays, finding that reusable trays were both environmentally and . 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. Convenience is a potential advantage for disposable LMAs, and facilities that use reusable LMAs must ensure that a variety of sizes are always available when needed. 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. After the parts are manufactured it is time for the final product assembly. Anesth Analg 1993;77:1079, 21. The alloy must allow for easy manufacturing due to the high demand of disposable razors and enough strength to last through transportation and shelf holding. The LMA was then dried with a cotton towel. The Great Recovery was a project by the RSA working with Innovate UK which ran between 2012 and 2016. During shaving, the sharp edges of the blade will chip off at a slow but steady rate, dulling the blade after repeated shavings. Alternate assumptions were used to test model sensitivity and to create bounds to aid interpretation of the results (Table 2). With the results we supply the basis for strategic decisions for sustainable action. Reusable LMAs in general appear to be made largely of silicone, lacking these same concerns for PVC/DEHP. endstream endobj startxref 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. I found information about the whole blade manufacturing process, but could not find details about energy consumption in every step of the process. Redesigning the Razor Life Cycle Assessment. The Great Recovery, http://www.greatrecovery.org.uk/resources/3682/. Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS). Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS), 5 Nov. 2015, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/polystyrene-ps-plastic. 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). The high levels of pollution from disposable razor blades alone caused the EPA to claim a national garbage crisis in the late 1980s, and the actual figure of 2 billion razors thrown away every year dates back to the 1990s. 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). They are resins that maintain a high dimensional stability, which helps create fast and cheap plastic razor handles (Safety Razor). 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. Assessing all steps in that life cycle provides insight into individual stresses and burden shifts from one step to another and enables understanding of both the cumulative environmental impacts and related trade-offs in each area, throughout the lifespan of both a facility and its manufactured products. 1. LCAs can be used comparatively to assess different product or service design options or to identify environmental . A life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for analyzing the environmental impacts and resources used throughout a product's life, from raw materials extraction to production, and extending through product use and disposal. These steps are not necessarily conducted in succession, but iteratively. The Eco-Indicator method is a tool developed to help designers conduct a simplified LCA study. BIC Comfort 3 Refillable Three-Blade Disposable Razors for Men, Sensitive Skin Razor for a Comfortable Shave, 1 Handle and 12 Cartridges With 3 Blades, 13 Piece Razor Kit. Packaging is an . In this section we also need to state the assumptions made during the process: Brimacombe J, Keller C, Morris R, Mecklem D. A comparison of the disposable versus the reusable laryngeal mask airway in paralyzed adult patients. CASE STUDY ANALYSIS - CLEAN EDGE, NON DISPOSABLE RAZOR Q1. However, of the 2 billion razors disposed of annually, about 32% end up in the ocean (Kaplan). Sustainable Development Report. Anyone can send in razors of any kind, and the plastic and cardboard packaging as well. The metal is not yet to its final form, as it is still greatly held together by the previously added binders. The processes that contribute to these emissions differ markedly between the 2 LMA devices. Once extracted, the tungsten is then shipped to a desired location for it to be manufactured into the metal compound. To go from raw materials to final product involves many steps and heavy energy input. 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. So, while this solution is not an easy fix, as it would require buyers to save their own waste, it does provide an alternative to the disposable razor waste crisis. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 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. BIC Group, 2016, For You For Everyone Registration Document. 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). Int J Life Cycle Assess 2001;6:7680, 13. Our LCA team retains its reputation as the most experienced life cycle staff in North America. 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. Bic USAs 2016 registration document provides information about the waste produced during the manufacturing of the razors. Nash, Nathaniel C. HOW BIC LOST THE EDGE TO GILLETTE. The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. The scope of our analysis, as is shown in Figure 1, includes extraction of material and energy resources, manufacturing, packaging and transport from the manufacturing site to the distribution center and the hospital, reprocessing, and eventual disposal. 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 . Sustainable Development at BIC . 6 Jan. 2011. To start the process of making the blades, tungsten carbide is melted at high temperatures. This is where most of the complexity of an LCA is involved. associated with the environmental interventions attributable to the life-cycle of a product. Tungsten carbide is a carbide compound, made up of equal parts of tungsten and carbon. Safety Assessment of Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) Released from PVC Medical Devices. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a modeling tool for quantifying the environmental impacts of products and processes. Bic Disposable Razor (1975). Plastics News Europe, 19 Nov. 2009, www.plasticsnewseurope.com/article/20091119/PNE/311199986/bic-disposable-razor-1975. The biggest impact during the cartridge-based razor life-cycle is manufacturing the cartridge as this is the part which is hardest to make. PurposeIn this study, a life cycle assessment of a bioplastic based diaper was performed. Zhang TW, Dornfeld DA. 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. The metal must be mined and extracted from the mountain causing an emission of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases (Wang). The long and harmful life-cycle of disposable razors is not reflected to the buyer browsing aisles of fully stocked razor shelves. Anesth Analg 2004;99:6267, 17. For You for Everyone Registration Document. 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). Data is temporarily unavailable. Cad M, Webb T, Bjorksten A. 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. There are some solutions and new recycling ideas, yet, the reduction of waste for disposable razors is still far off. On the other hand, extending the number of uses to 80 (doubling the lifetime) reduces GHG emissions by 9%. The second component of the razor is the plastic body which is made of a fairly inexpensive plastic called polystyrene. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy. WC2N 6EZ, Redesigning the razor Life Cycle Assessment. 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. Int Anesthesiol Clin 2010;48:139, 24. 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). Please try again soon. The blades are then carefully sharpened to create the razor blades. Soulias M, Martin L, Garnier N, Juniot A, Aho L, Freysz M. Disposable vs reusable laryngeal mask airway: a cost-minimization analysis. Dbendorf, Switzerland, 2011, 12. Facilities that select reusable devices should implement inventory and operating procedures that ensure that devices are reused to the greatest possible extent. In this case it was very difficult to see what materials the product contained and exactly how it was manufactured (as the big manufacturing companies wouldnt disclose this information), so some of the data had to be assumed. Innovative and strategic advisor to leading philanthropies, corporates, governments, international institutions and NGOs. Address correspondence to Jodi Sherman, MD, Yale University, School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, 333 Cedar Street, TMP3, New Haven, CT 06520. Life cycle assessment software I used GaBi 6 software, produced by PE International. The razors are mainly made of plastic, so they will be decomposing at a very slow rate in the landfill. Since then, around 60 billion razors have been produced, distributed, and sold worldwide. Ask a worker if you can put them in the bin by themselves or if they need to be in a recyclable container to protect sanitation workers from being cut. However, it is fairly easy to find what the disposable razors components are made of, due to its simplicity. To create the metal compound, carbon is added to the purified tungsten in a complex chemical process where the materials are heated to over 2,200 degrees celsius. f'C58NQ}i:]1 $Nh@b8H|iWILGgj{J27]Xp0N@h+ !` >q Saudi J Anaesth 2008;2:58. `""(w Yet, as they are designed to be thrown away after use, a question is raised of their fast accumulating waste and its impact on the environment. When the devices entered use at Yale New Haven Hospital, both the disposable and the reusable LMAs were removed from their original packaging, which was discarded. 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). LCA for product sustainability. disposable paper diaper; material recycling; closed-loop recycling; life cycle assessment (LCA) 1. Your message has been successfully sent to your colleague. Overview. Properly following the instructions it should (hopefully) leave you with three pieces, the handle, the metal blade, the plastic that was covering the blade. The newest effort to recycle disposable razors is being done in France by BIC, but the company has said that they do not plan on unveiling a recycling program anywhere else yet (Powers). Each manufacturing plant or node in the supply chain is referred to as agate-to-gate (GTG) life cycle inventory. 2 offers from $9.92. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. Anaesth Intensive Care 2004;32:5304, 4. Another advantage is that the process produces a single score (Eco-Indicator Point) for the all the impacts of the product, not just individual ones for each part. 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. This manuscript was handled by: Steven L. Shafer, MD. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Contrary to common expectation, hair is actually pretty hard. 748 0 obj <> endobj #4. Williams S, Henderson K. A survey into the number of times laryngeal masks are used. The GTG LCIs are added together to give a cradle-to-gate (CTG) life cycle inventory . This obviously makes the results less accurate, but it can still be used as a general indicator of impact. 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. E-LCA is a time tested assessment technique that evaluates environmental performance throughout the life cycle of a product or from performing a service. Wages are then spent on food, entertainment, transport, and other economic activities that themselves have environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Nappies in the UK Ref: ISBN 1844324273, LIT 2080 PDF, 1.83 MB, 203 pages This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.. 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. 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). 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. Please try after some time. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a process of evaluating the effects that a product has on the environment over the entire period of its life thereby increasing resource-use efficiency and decreasing liabilities. Differences in environmental impacts between devices may present a compelling consideration in their selection. The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) was introduced into clinical use in the late 1980s and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the US in 1991. Case Studies. Case Studies : Reducing BIC's Rejection Rates | KEYENCE America, www.keyence.com/solutions/case-studies/bic.jsp. 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. Powers, Matt, and Amanda M. Can You Recycle Disposable Razors? Earth911.Com, 30 July 2019, earth911.com/living-well-being/health/can-you-recycle-disposable-razors/. Lv, Andrea Lind, and Tigist Fetene. Several clinical trials comparing function and ease of placement demonstrated no significant difference between disposable and reusable versions,25 allowing hospitals to base purchase decisions on economic considerations alone. The reusable LMA was found to have a more favorable environmental profile than the disposable LMA as used at Yale New Haven Hospital. 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. Terracycle. All of these software packages and models are in widespread use by life cycle assessment practitioners in the US and internationally. International Sympsium on Sustainable Systems and Technology. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011, 16. We purchase the product in a store, use the product for removing unwanted body and facial hair until it eventually dulls, and then we toss it in the bathroom trash, unaware of where it goes or where it came from. This is done on an assembly line by the robotic arm the inserts the razor blade into the small crevices in the plastic body. The metal liquid then goes through a strengthening process called annealing. But what really goes into making one of these seemingly mundane disposable razors and what happens to it after its tossed in the trash? Reprints will not be available from the authors. The blades and lubricating strip were too light to be measured with our equipment so their weights were rounded to 1g. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 156 (2020) 104704. Poly(p-Phenylene Oxide). Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly(p-phenylene_oxide). Its aim is a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of products and services. A Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable Razors. Ans: (i) Significant growth in industry of super premium segment . Ann Fr Anesth Reanim 2006;25:8114, 7. However, we can discuss the energy usage of different modes of transportation. Contribution: This author helped conduct the study and analyze the data. 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. Phase 3: Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Atlanta, 2012. Life Cycle Assessment - definition & methodology.