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Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios

Widespread concerns have been raised about the huge environmental burden caused by massive consumption of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of the existing studies only focus on the environmental impact associated with the product itself regardless of the actual usage...

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Autores principales: Luo, Yan, Yu, Mengfan, Wu, Xiongying, Ding, Xuemei, Wang, Laili
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier Ltd. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9807258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36619699
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.135854
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author Luo, Yan
Yu, Mengfan
Wu, Xiongying
Ding, Xuemei
Wang, Laili
author_facet Luo, Yan
Yu, Mengfan
Wu, Xiongying
Ding, Xuemei
Wang, Laili
author_sort Luo, Yan
collection PubMed
description Widespread concerns have been raised about the huge environmental burden caused by massive consumption of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of the existing studies only focus on the environmental impact associated with the product itself regardless of the actual usage scenarios and protective performance of products, resulting in unrealistic conclusions and poor applicability. In this context, this study integrated the product performance into the existing carbon footprint assessment methodology, with focus on the current global concerns regarding climate change. Computational case studies were conducted for different mask products applicable to the scenarios of low-, medium- and high-risk levels. The results showed that reusable cotton masks and disposable medical masks suitable for low-risk settings have a total carbon footprint of 285.484 kgCO(2)-eq/FU and 128.926 kgCO(2)-eq/FU respectively, with a break-even point of environmental performance between them of 16.886, which implies that cotton masks will reverse the trend and become more environmentally friendly after 17 washes, emphasizing the importance of improving the washability of cotton masks. Additionally, the total carbon footprints of disposable surgical masks and KN95 respirators were 154.328 kg CO(2)-eq/FU and 641.249 kg CO(2)-eq/FU respectively, while disposable medical masks and disposable surgical masks were identified as alternatives with better environmental performance in terms of medium- and high-risk environments respectively. The whole-life-cycle oriented carbon footprint evaluation further indicated that the four masks have greater potential for carbon emission reduction in the raw material processing and production processes. The results obtained in this study can provide scientific guidance for manufacturers and consumers on the production and use of protective masks. Moreover, the proposed model can be applied to other personal protective equipment with similar properties, such as protective clothing, in the future.
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spelling pubmed-98072582023-01-04 Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios Luo, Yan Yu, Mengfan Wu, Xiongying Ding, Xuemei Wang, Laili J Clean Prod Article Widespread concerns have been raised about the huge environmental burden caused by massive consumption of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of the existing studies only focus on the environmental impact associated with the product itself regardless of the actual usage scenarios and protective performance of products, resulting in unrealistic conclusions and poor applicability. In this context, this study integrated the product performance into the existing carbon footprint assessment methodology, with focus on the current global concerns regarding climate change. Computational case studies were conducted for different mask products applicable to the scenarios of low-, medium- and high-risk levels. The results showed that reusable cotton masks and disposable medical masks suitable for low-risk settings have a total carbon footprint of 285.484 kgCO(2)-eq/FU and 128.926 kgCO(2)-eq/FU respectively, with a break-even point of environmental performance between them of 16.886, which implies that cotton masks will reverse the trend and become more environmentally friendly after 17 washes, emphasizing the importance of improving the washability of cotton masks. Additionally, the total carbon footprints of disposable surgical masks and KN95 respirators were 154.328 kg CO(2)-eq/FU and 641.249 kg CO(2)-eq/FU respectively, while disposable medical masks and disposable surgical masks were identified as alternatives with better environmental performance in terms of medium- and high-risk environments respectively. The whole-life-cycle oriented carbon footprint evaluation further indicated that the four masks have greater potential for carbon emission reduction in the raw material processing and production processes. The results obtained in this study can provide scientific guidance for manufacturers and consumers on the production and use of protective masks. Moreover, the proposed model can be applied to other personal protective equipment with similar properties, such as protective clothing, in the future. Elsevier Ltd. 2023-02-10 2023-01-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9807258/ /pubmed/36619699 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.135854 Text en © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Luo, Yan
Yu, Mengfan
Wu, Xiongying
Ding, Xuemei
Wang, Laili
Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
title Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
title_full Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
title_fullStr Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
title_full_unstemmed Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
title_short Carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
title_sort carbon footprint assessment of face masks in the context of the covid-19 pandemic: based on different protective performance and applicable scenarios
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9807258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36619699
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.135854
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