A Sustainable Approach towards Disposable Face Mask Production Amidst Pandemic Outbreaks

Salman Alfarisi, Mar’atus Sholihah, Yuya Mitake, Yusuke Tsutsui, Hanfei Wang and Yoshiki Shimomura
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Salman Alfarisi: Department of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan
Mar’atus Sholihah: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia
Yuya Mitake: Department of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan
Yusuke Tsutsui: Department of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan
Hanfei Wang: Department of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan
Yoshiki Shimomura: Department of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 191-0065, Japan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: SARS-CoV-2 has become a global pandemic, causing many disruptions in multiple sectors. The World Health Organization has urged the public to wear face masks as part of the countermeasure. As the demand for face masks increased, research on the environmental sustainability of face masks production started to emerge. However, the scope of the prior studies is limited to environmental impacts during the manufacturing process. Broadening the research scope is critical to acquire a comprehensive environmental impact analysis. Therefore, this study investigates the life cycle impact assessment of disposable face mask production, from raw material extraction to the point of sale, by adopting the life cycle assessment method. Disposable face masks are assessed for a single person, over one functional unit (FU) of 30 12-h days. The ReCiPe approach was used with a Hierarchist perspective. The results reveal that disposable face mask manufacture contributes significantly to enormous environmental impact categories. As a solution, this study proposes a reconfiguration of the manufacturing process, by altering the design and material proportion of the earloop to minimise the environmental impact. The investigation indicates that the proposed design might decrease the global warming contribution, from 1.82593 kg CO 2 eq. to 1.69948 kg CO 2 eq.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; environmental impact; sustainability; disposable face mask; global warming; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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