Abstract
ABSTRACT This study aims to analyse the potential environmental impact of natural rubber (NR) condoms over its entire life cycle. The environmental performance of the production process of NR condoms is also compared to that of synthetic polyisoprene (PI) condoms. Options to reduce the environmental impact of condom production are proposed and evaluated. The potential environmental impacts are quantified by life cycle assessment (LCA). The study takes a cradle-to-grave approach, and considers six phases: 1) fresh latex production, 2) concentrated latex production, 3) condom production, 4) condom use, 5) condom transportation, and 6) condom disposal. The comparative analysis of NR and PI condom production takes a gate-to-gate scope. The functional unit is one gross condom. The results indicate that the condom production phase has the largest share (34–73%) in the environmental impact during the life cycle of NR condoms, followed by the disposal phase (20–60%). Comparing the production of NR and PI condoms reveals that the production of PI condoms results in a 1.5–2.5 times higher environmental impacts than the NR condom production, due to higher electricity consumption, especially for the compounding, dipping, and leaching processes. Reduction of electricity use is a key measure to reduce the environmental impact. Combining natural gas with electricity for the dipping process is a promising option to reduce the electricity use; it results in ~10–17% reduction in environmental impacts.
Highlights
Thailand has been the world’s leading producer of natural rubber for the last two decades
The majority of condoms are manufactured from natural rubber latex (NR condom), a synthetic non-latex condom has been developed as an alternative for people who are allergic to the protein content in natural latex
The study of the whole life cycle of NR condom considers six phases: 1) fresh latex production, 2) concentrated latex production, 3) condom production, 4) condom trans portation, 5) condom use, and 6) condom disposal (Figure 1).Corporate activities were not included because this study focused on the environmental performance of the product rather than the corporate
Summary
Thailand has been the world’s leading producer of natural rubber for the last two decades. A natural rubber dipping product produced from concentrated latex. The global condom market is expected to grow by ~8% between 2019 and 2025 (GMI 2019). Thailand has been the world’s largest producer of condoms since 2004 (DITP 2018). Condoms produced in Thailand are mainly exported to international markets, especially China, the United States, and Europe. In Thailand, synthetic condoms are mainly produced from polyisoprene (PI) elastomers, which are stereoregular polymers that closely resemble natural rubber in molecular structure as well as in properties (strength, elasticity, and softness). The share of PI condoms is currently small, the PI condom production is anticipated to grow by~8% from 2019 to 2025 due to the limited supply of natural rubber latex (GMI 2019)
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