How sustainable are the biodegradable medical gowns via environmental and social life cycle assessment?
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216305%3A26210%2F22%3APU146542" target="_blank" >RIV/00216305:26210/22:PU146542 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622047278" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622047278</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135153" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135153</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
How sustainable are the biodegradable medical gowns via environmental and social life cycle assessment?
Original language description
The growing disposable medical gown consumption due to the COVID-19 pandemic has driven tons of waste to landfills and posed plastic pollution. Investigating the pros and cons of biodegradable gowns over conventional counterparts can guide disposable medical gowns to be environmentally and socially sustainable. This work presents environmental and social life cycle assessments (E− and S-LCA) of biodegradable gowns to compare their environmental and social performances with conventional ones. The E-LCA evaluates the full-spectrum environmental impacts from gown production to end-of-life waste management processes, while the S-LCA assesses their associated influence on economic growth, employment, and worker welfare. The social impacts are evaluated based on the economic input-output analysis results of the economic sectors or gown life cycle stages involved in the gown value chain. Results show that biodegradable gown production poses 10.76% higher ecotoxicity than conventional alternatives contributed by pro-oxidant manufacturing. Integrating the landfill gas (LFG) capture and utilization processes into biodegradable gown waste treatment can reduce 48.81% of life cycle land use and over 5.67% of total greenhouse gas emissions. However, integrating this process in sanitary landfills to treat disinfected gown wastes can increase technical complexity, which enhances 70% of safety risks and 40% frequency of forced labor. Industrial composting biodegradable gowns can reduce over 20.5% of particulate matter formation versus sanitary landfills. Overall, fossil-based gowns possess full-spectrum environmental and social advantages over biodegradable counterparts treated by industrial composting and sanitary landfills. If improving the efficiencies of LFG capture by 85%, biogenic methane oxidation by 43%, and heat generation by 85%, biodegradable gowns can outperform conventional counterparts in reducing GHG emissions and fossil fuel use.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
20704 - Energy and fuels
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GF21-45726L" target="_blank" >GF21-45726L: Sustainable Plastic Value Chain to Support a Circular Economy Transition</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2022
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Journal of Cleaner Production
ISSN
0959-6526
e-ISSN
1879-1786
Volume of the periodical
neuveden
Issue of the periodical within the volume
380
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
16
Pages from-to
135153-135153
UT code for WoS article
000894005400004
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85142171662