Life cycle assessment studies to evaluate the sustainability of various facemasks used during COVID-19: A UAE case study

Abstract

The major hurdle in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic would be the safe management of plastic waste generated from personal protective equipment and mitigating a plastic pollution crisis. Facemasks were adopted worldwide as the first line of defense against the COVID-19 pandemic, and their demand increased exponentially during the last few years. Through a life cycle assessment, this study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of various facemasks available in the UAE market. SimaPro software was used to conduct a cradle-to-grave LCA, with a functional unit of "The number of face masks required by a person in UAE over a month (30 days)". Results show that the GWP (in kg CO2 eq) of 1 FU of surgical FM is 0.867, activated carbon FM is 1.11, N95 FM is 1.55, cloth FM is 0.642, and PLA FM is 0.946. Packaging increases the GWP by 36–178%. Long-distance transportation from China to UAE was identified to be a significant hotspot under GWP and FRS. Other hotspots include polypropylene material in filtration layers, aluminum in nosepieces, electricity usage in cloth masks, and disposal scenarios. Multiple supply chain optimizations are suggested, such as the substitution of recycled aluminum in nose pieces, the use of sustainable transportation, and limiting the use of packaging material to a bare minimum to improve the sustainability of the face mask industry.