Life cycle assessment of single-use surgical and embedded filtration layer (EFL) reusable face mask.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented amount of face mask consumption around the world. The increase in face mask consumption has brought focus to their environmental impact. To keep up with the increased demand for face masks, different variations of reusable face masks such as the embedded filtration layer (EFL) reusable face mask have emerged in the market. This study quantifies the environmental impact of the EFL reusable face mask and the single-use surgical face mask.

Methods

The life cycle assessment (LCA) study of the entire value chain from cradle-to-grave is applied to each face mask. Both face masks are evaluated over 1 functional unit (FU) of 31 12-h days for a single person. The ReCiPe method with the Hierachist perspective

SUBMITTER: Lee AWL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8009732 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature