Considerable Environmental Impact Research Articles

Environmental impacts of a Mexican hemodialysis unit through LCA

Hemodialysis, the most common treatment for chronic kidney disease, generates a series of impacts on the environment, particularly on water and greenhouse gas emissions. The effects on the environment from hemodialysis treatment in Mexico have not been quantified. In the world, the studies carried out to date measure the environmental impacts based on CO2eq, so they do not reveal other types of effects generated by this type of treatment. The objective of this study is to estimate the environmental impact of hemodialysis in 17 impact categories using life cycle assessment (LCA). The phases of this study were carried out following the guidelines of ISO 14040–14044, considering as a functional unit the replacement of renal function, artificially employing a hemodialysis machine in a patient for one year. The unitary processes of the system with the highest environmental loads were the patients and staff transportation and hemodialysis. The contribution analysis yielded 17 significant variables greater than 5% of the impact. The carbon footprint of artificial kidney care, by stage of the life cycle, is distributed as follows: transport (36%), kidney service (36%), and end of life (28%). The LCA approach allowed the inclusion of other environmental effects of health services to understand the impacts better. Renal assistance was also shown to represent a considerable environmental impact on water scarcity and contamination beyond global warming.

Analysis of Contractual Process of Users Committees: A Case of Khairahani Municipality, Chitwan, Nepal

Purpose: The projects at local level in Nepal are found to be executed through users committee or contractors depending upon structure and budget. To assess the existing practice of formation & contractual process of Users Committees while implementing construction projects at Khairahani Municipality Chitwan., Nepal. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was solely the project management practice of the Municipality implementing through UCs using Checklist Survey for projects with cost more than 10 laks. Data of the 33-sample site (different sectors of construction) will be collected and analyzed to obtain the significance. The information collected from the UCs members through the questionnaire and the consultations. The data were also collected from the Engineers, Sub Engineers, Planning officers, Assistant planning officer, Account Officer, Accountant, and elected representatives employed through questionnaire. All the collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using bars, graphs & diagrams and comparison with existing laws. Findings/Result: The UCs in the projects of Municipality was formed by the general mass meeting of local beneficiaries without political interferences or biases. For the construction projects implementation through UCs, its formation was through the participatory approach but it was not strictly followed the prevailing acts, rules, guidelines and directives to local bodies for the composition of UCs. The supervision and monitoring mechanism exists but it was not functioning as well. The projects after the work completion had been examined and cleared within the time. The ownership of the projects, O & M fund and handover of the completed projects was not clearly defined. There were very few projects implemented through UCs that have adverse environmental impact, though the environmental impact consideration should be taken. From the study it is found that both the approaches can be suitable depending on the specific conditions and requirements. Each one of them has its own merits and demerits which do not enact in all situation of rural construction work. Originality/Value: The existing practice of formation and contractual process complies with existing laws, bylaws rules, regulations, and guidelines illustrate law binding nature. Paper Type: Research paper

Global warming potential-based life cycle assessment and optimization of the compressive strength of fly ash-silica fume concrete; environmental impact consideration

In this research study, extensive literature searches on the compressive strength of concrete produced from the addition of fly ash (FA) and silica fume (SF) as extra constituents to the conventional concrete mixes, which gave rise to 330 mix points of concrete database. Due to the worrisome environmental impact of concrete production and usage in concrete activities, it has been pertinent to conduct the life cycle impact assessment of this procedure. Secondly, due to the over dependence of concrete production experts on laboratory exercise, there is also an urgent need to propose equations that reduce this dependence, that can be used in design, construction and performance evaluation of concrete infrastructure, hence the multi-objective nature of this research work. The results of the global warming potential (GWP) based on cement dosage show that Portland cement contributes about 90% of the total score. This is followed by the use of coarse aggregate contributing 6%, superplasticizer, 3% and fine aggregates, 2%. These show the functions of CO2 emissions and other greenhouses gas emissions in the entire system. Also, the result of the terrestrial acidification potential (TAP) for the concrete mixes in this study show that the lowest cement mix “C340-FAg658-FA0-SF15ˮ has a human toxicity, both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic that showed an added impact of about 14 kg of 1, 4 equivalents of dichlorobenzene (DCB eq.). This result is 428% less impact than other studies found in the literature that used FA. Finally, it was found that the addition of FA and SF in concrete has a lowering effect on the environmental impact indicators due to reduced cement dosage. Furthermore, the results of the model predictions show that ANN with a performance index of 0.986 (4.8%) showed decisive superiority to predict the compressive strength of the FA-SF concrete over EPR, 0.951 (8.7%), GP, 0.94 (9.5%) and GEP, 0.93 (10%).

How We Might Further Integrate Considerations of Environmental Impact When Assessing the Value of Health Technologies.

There is growing awareness of the impact health technologies can have on the environment and the negative consequences of these environmental impacts on human health. However, health system decision-makers may lack the expertise, data, or resources to incorporate environmental considerations when making decisions about the adoption and use of health technologies. In this article, we describe how health technology assessment (HTA) is evolving to address climate change by providing health system decision-makers with the information they can use to reduce the impact of health care systems on the environment. Our objective is to consider approaches for including the environment domain when conducting an HTA—in particular, the use of the deliberative process—and for determining when the domain should be included. We explore the challenges of gathering the relevant data necessary to assess the environmental impact of a health technology, and we describe a “triage” approach for determining when an in-depth environmental impact assessment is warranted. We also summarize related initiatives from HTA agencies around the world.

Fostering innovative and sustainable mass-market construction using digital fabrication with concrete

The construction industry produces buildings and infrastructure. These construction works are typically immobile and customised, and must meet many criteria to provide value to modern society: structural safety, durability, serviceability, aesthetics and integration, environmental sustainability and construction efficiency. Accordingly, traditional construction methods, along with the resulting construction works, have been adapted to comply with these multifaceted requirements for more than a century. However, the construction industry has a considerable environmental impact, with reinforced concrete as its primary driver due to its extensive use, and will be facing an ever-increasing responsibility to tackle climate neutrality in the upcoming years. Digital fabrication with concrete is a young yet already broad discipline that brings about the potential for the necessary reduction of the environmental impact and further industrialisation of the construction industry while being compatible with the multifaceted requirements for construction works. Still, it has not penetrated the construction mass market, which is paramount for making a significant difference towards improving the environmental impact of the construction industry. The present study tackles this issue by (i) assessing traditional construction and digital fabrication on a value-driven basis, identifying and summarising their inherent strengths and challenges, and (ii) proposing a value-driven ideation process to identify relevant mass-market levers of digital fabrication in the construction industry. The presented methodology indicates two exemplary applications of how traditional construction and digital fabrication processes can be combined to tackle the persistent environmental sustainability challenges.

Life cycle assessment of alternative marine fuels for super yacht

Despite its relatively small size, the global super yacht fleet has considerable environmental impact. The emissions of these vessels, in concert with the wider maritime industry are under increasing scrutiny and pressure to achieve reductions. Ambitious policy targeting reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG), NOx and SOx emissions will require significant changes in vessel propulsion and fuel use. This paper examines the environmental impact of various alternative low-emission fuels for a super yacht. The study investigated well-to-wake energy consumption and the environmental impact of alternative low-emission fuels over the complete vessel lifetime. A comparative Life Cycle Assessment was performed on Marine Gas Oil (MGO), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), methanol, biodiesel and hydrogen with various energy production pathways. Results suggested that hydrogen produced using a wind energy pathway offers the most environmentally sound alternative to MGO; with a 93.95% reduction in GHG emissions and 91.95% acidification potential (AP) emissions. Fossil based alternatives have very limited potential to achieve regulatory reduction targets. Global warming potential (GWP) suggest that LNG fuel can reduce 20% to 25% CO2 emission in the Tank-to-Wake phase in comparison with MGO. However, considering CH4 emissions, may result in a 5.4% higher GWP. The results highlight the differences in lifecycle emissions as a result of different production pathways. The paper concludes with recommendations for hydrogen from a renewable production.

(Digital Presentation) Mapping of Degradation Processes in Ni-Rich Layered Oxide Cathode Materials in State-of-the-Art Commercial Li-Ion Cells Based on Battery Usage Conditions

Ni-rich oxide cathode active materials are today key components in Li-ion batteries used for electric vehicles (EV). The high capacity of LiNixCoyMnzO2 and LiNixCoyAlzO2 (NCA) with x≥0.6 has enabled a continued increase in energy density and decrease in cost at the pack level, enabling the rapid growth of the EV market in recent years. Despite a wide use, rather fast material ageing results in the batteries being a source of considerable environmental impact [1]. Various degradation sources are highlighted in the literature, these include transition metal dissolution, surface layer reconstruction, particle cracking, etc [2]. However, when extrapolating the knowledge from a model cell to a commercial battery the relevance and the degree of degradation impact can drastically change [3]. The importance of approaching real conditions is a key to a full understanding of the ageing processes occurring in commercial cells. In the given work, we analyse commercial state-of-art 2170 cylindrical cells. The cells were aged at various temperatures and state of charge windows, targeting divergent usage scenarios. The degradation processes were accessed with a wide range of analytical techniques applied to extracted electrodes (x-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, cycling voltammetry, incremental capacity analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and intermittent current interruption). In the current work we show that depending on the operating conditions, influence of ageing sources varies. Additionally, ageing mapping within cell geometry is presented highlighting “hot spots” of the cell [4].

Selection of green remediation alternatives for chemical industrial sites: An integrated life cycle assessment and fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach

The concept of green site remediation calls for a model that can consider environmental impacts in the selection of site remediation alternatives. In this study, an integrated life cycle assessment (LCA)-fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) model is developed to help practitioners select the optimal site remediation plan by incorporating life cycle impacts into the comprehensive suitability evaluation. The LCA module quantifies environmental and economic impacts using ReCiPe and Input-Output LCA methods, respectively. The impacts are evaluated along with other suitability considerations, presented in 32 indicators under ten criteria, by practitioners through a questionnaire survey. FSE is used to process the collected subjective judgments and generate a suitability index for informed selection. The integrated model is applied to a case study of an abandoned chemical industrial site contaminated by various organic chemicals and mercury. Four remediation alternatives, designed as the combined uses of ex-situ thermal desorption, in-situ thermal desorption, and in-situ containment, are evaluated. The LCA results show that the alternative with extensive use (treating 93.8 % of the contaminated soil) of in-situ thermal desorption is associated with the highest environmental and economic impacts, followed by the alternative with less extensive use (6.2 %) of in-situ thermal desorption. The FSE results show that the economic, technical, and environmental impact considerations are the top three important criteria. The integrated LCA-FSE results indicate that the alternative with mixed use of ex-situ thermal desorption and in-situ containment could be the optimal plan. Excluding LCA results could alter the suitability ranks of the alternatives.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Sustainable Concrete Containing Fly Ash Based on Environmental and Mechanical Considerations

Infrastructure design, construction and development experts are making frantic efforts to overcome the overbearing effects of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the continued dependence on the utilization of conventional cement as a construction material on our planet. The amount of CO2 emitted during cement production, transportation to construction sites, and handling during construction activities to produce concrete is alarming. The present research work is focused on proposing intelligent models for fly ash (FA)-based concrete comprising cement, fine and coarse aggregates (FAg and CAg), FA, and water as mix constituents based on environmental impact (P) considerations in an attempt to foster healthier and greener concrete production and aid the environment. FA as a construction material is discharged as a waste material from power plants in large amounts across the world. Its utilization as a supplementary cement ensures a sustainable waste management mechanism and is beneficial for the environment too; hence, this research work is a multi-objective exercise. Intelligent models are proposed for multiple concrete mixes utilizing FA as a replacement for cement to predict 28-day concrete compressive strength and life cycle assessment (LCA) for cement with FA. The data collected show that the concrete mixes with a higher amount of FA had a lesser impact on the environment, while the environmental impact was higher for those mixes with a higher amount of cement. The models which utilized the learning abilities of ANN (-BP, -GRG, and -GA), GP and EPR showed great speed and robustness with R2 performance indices (SSE) of 0.986 (5.1), 0.983 (5.8), 0.974 (7.0), 0.78 (19.1), and 0.957 (10.1) for Fc, respectively, and 0.994 (2.2), 0.999 (0.8), 0.999 (1.0), 0.999 (0.8), and 1.00 (0.4) for P, respectively. Overall, this shows that ANN-BP outclassed the rest in performance in predicting Fc, while EPR outclassed the others in predicting P. Relative importance analyses conducted on the constituent materials showed that FA had relatively good importance in the concrete mixes. However, closed-form model equations are proposed to optimize the amount of FA and cement that will provide the needed strength levels without jeopardizing the health of the environment.

Scale and Impact of Sports Stadium Grow Lighting Systems In England

Recently, many sports stadiums have begun using high power lighting systems to help the grass grow on the playing surfaces. These lights supplement winter sunlight, which is sometimes insufficient due to the low elevation of the sun and shading from the surrounding walls. In many stadiums, grow lights are operated at night, and the waste light emissions from these stadiums are extraordinary in comparison to most other areas in the cities in which they are located. Here we present space-based observations of the radiance of fourteen stadiums located in towns and cities of varying sizes and in varying geographical locations across England which each have a Premier League football stadium. We show that stadiums have dramatically brightened (typically by factors of 2-5) in recent years compared to the situation in 2012. We also show that stadiums are often responsible for an important fraction of the total light emission of the cities they are in (often 10% or more, and in one case up to 30%). Because the light emissions from many English towns have been reducing in recent years, the overall fraction of light due to the stadiums is increasing. In some cases, total city emissions have actually increased due to the stadiums, undermining the environmental impact of reductions in radiance in the rest of the community. We believe that stadium grow lights are an excellent target for sustainable lighting initiatives, both because of their considerable environmental impact (especially when located near sensitive areas) and the possibility of high profile and successful waste light mitigation projects.

A Comparative study and efficiency analysis between Sanchez and Fuzzy TOPSIS methods in a multi-criteria decision-making problem for energy plant instalment

Energy power is highly needed to deal with modern human lifestyle. Therefore, choosing a proper energy resource is a vital activity to satisfy the regular demand of energy along with the consideration of environmental and social impact of it. This paper proposed a methodological analysis for the determination and installation of energy plant in a particular location under the conditions to fulfill the demand and to maintain socio-economic sustainability. Since, there are several energy resources available, including renewable and non-renewable resources, it is very necessary to choose appropriate resource to be used for energy plant installation for a particular location. The choice of location depends on many factors like price, availability of resources etc. This study examines the priority of factors for a specified area and develops a process to select the most suitable energy resources. Multiple locations are considered for the study. For each location, the most appropriate energy production plant is determined under intuitionistic fuzzy environment. Moreover, this paper applies two different approaches for location selection as Sanchez approach and fuzzy TOPSIS. The methods are described with numerical data. The results are graphically analyzed and are compared between the two approaches. The study concluded that the TOPSIS is useful to obtain more accurate approximation than the Sanchez approach but with long computational approach. On the other hand, Sanchez can obtain results with lower computational steps.

Accessing Metals from Low-Grade Ores and the Environmental Impact Considerations: A Review of the Perspectives of Conventional versus Bioleaching Strategies

Mining has advanced primarily through the use of two strategies: pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Both have been used successfully to extract valuable metals from ore deposits. These strategies, without a doubt, harm the environment. Furthermore, due to decades of excessive mining, there has been a global decline in high-grade ores. This has resulted in a decrease in valuable metal supply, which has prompted a reconsideration of these traditional strategies, as the industry faces the current challenge of accessing the highly sought-after valuable metals from low-grade ores. This review outlines these challenges in detail, provides insights into metal recovery issues, and describes technological advances being made to address the issues associated with dealing with low-grade metals. It also discusses the pragmatic paradigm shift that necessitates the use of biotechnological solutions provided by bioleaching, particularly its environmental friendliness. However, it goes on to criticize the shortcomings of bioleaching while highlighting the potential solutions provided by a bespoke approach that integrates research applications from omics technologies and their applications in the adaptation of bioleaching microorganisms and their interaction with the harsh environments associated with metal ore degradation.

Demonstrating the Potential of Using Bio-Based Sustainable Polyester Blends for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications.

Healthcare applications are known to have a considerable environmental impact and the use of bio-based polymers has emerged as a powerful approach to reduce the carbon footprint in the sector. This research aims to explore the suitability of using a new sustainable polyester blend (Floreon™) as a scaffold directed to aid in musculoskeletal applications. Musculoskeletal problems arise from a wide range of diseases and injuries related to bones and joints. Specifically, bone injuries may result from trauma, cancer, or long-term infections and they are currently considered a major global problem in both developed and developing countries. In this work we have manufactured a series of 3D-printed constructs from a novel biopolymer blend using fused deposition modelling (FDM), and we have modified these materials using a bioceramic (wollastonite, 15% w/w). We have evaluated their performance in vitro using human dermal fibroblasts and rat mesenchymal stromal cells. The new sustainable blend is biocompatible, showing no differences in cell metabolic activity when compared to PLA controls for periods 1–18 days. FloreonTM blend has proven to be a promising material to be used in bone tissue regeneration as it shows an impact strength in the same range of that shown by native bone (just under 10 kJ/m2) and supports an improvement in osteogenic activity when modified with wollastonite.

Ontology-Based Approach Supporting Multi-Objective Holistic Decision Making for Energy Pile System

The traditional way of designing energy pile system is mostly single domain/objective oriented, which lacks of means to coherently consider different while relevant factors across domains. The cost for life cycle design, construction and maintenance, return of investment, CO2 emission related sustainable requirements, and so on also need to be considered, in a systematic manner, along with the main functional design objective for loading capacity and robustness. This paper presents a novel multi-objective holistic approach for energy pile system design using ontology based multi-domain knowledge orchestration, which can holistically provide the designers with across domain factors regarding financial, safety, and environmental impact, for smart and holistic consideration during the early design stage. A prototypical ontology-based decision tool has been developed, aiming at the holistic optimization for energy pile system by combining ontology and Semantic Web Rule Language rules. A case study was performed to illustrate the details on how to apply knowledge query to provide a series of design alternatives autonomously by taking different design parameters into account. The method has demonstrated its practicability and scientific feasibility, it also shows the potential to be adopted and extended for other domains when dealing with multi-objective holistic design making.

Evaluation of the Mechanical Failure Criterion to Consider the Triple Base Propellant Safety Life: Application of Sustainable Renewables for Environmental Hazards

Implementation of clean energy and renewables is essential for the consideration of environmental impact because it can be implemented in supply chain networks and sustainable management procedures for safety. In order to study the safety life failure criterion of a triple base propellant under the failure mode of mechanical properties, an accelerated aging test, an evaluation method for the launch safety test of gun propellant charge, and a compressive strength test were used. The failure criterion of mechanical properties was obtained by researching the correlation between launch safety change and mechanical property change of samples. Berthelot’s equation was used to predict the safety life of the triple base propellant. The results show that the mechanical failure criterion is “27% reduction of maximum compressive strength.” The safety life at 25°C and 75% humidity is 13.77 years.

Chemical and technological attributes of sugarcane as functions of organomineral fertilizer based on filter cake or sewage sludge as organic matter sources.

Sugarcane is one of the main alternative sources of biomass for the biofuel sector, and its large-scale production has considerable environmental impact. Organomineral fertilizers formulated with potential environmental contaminants, such as filter cake and sewage sludge, positively influence plant growth and development. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the chemical and physical characteristics of sugarcane fertilized with pelletized organomineral fertilizers based on filter cake or sewage sludge. Eight field treatments were applied, based on three organomineral fertilizer compositions (50%, 100%, and 150%) associated with two organic matter (OM) sources (filter cake or sewage sludge), in addition to a control with 100% mineral fertilizer application, and a no-fertilization control (0%). Sugarcane attributes were evaluated during two consecutive harvests. The weights of stalks per hectare (ton ha-1), sugarcane productivity (ton ha-1), quantity of sugar per hectare (TSH, ton ha-1), and physicochemical properties of sugarcane juice (pol [%], Brix [%], purity [%], and fiber [%]) were evaluated. There were no significant differences in the attributes between OM sources or organomineral fertilization treatments and the exclusive mineral fertilization. The organomineral fertilizer application rate recommended for maximum quantitative and qualitative sugarcane in the first sugarcane harvest was between 2 and 9% above the regular recommendation for mineral fertilizer, regardless of the OM source. In the second harvest, the sewage sludge source increased total sugar and sugarcane per hectare by 4.68 and 4.19%, respectively, compared to the sugarcane filter cake source. Sewage sludge and sugarcane filter cake are viable alternatives for organomineral composition and could improve economic returns and minimize negative environmental impacts in sugarcane cultivation systems.

Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Agri-Food Sector: Research Trends and Innovating Practices.

Natural resources are becoming scarcer and, together with the growth of the population, a widespread situation of overexploitation is inevitable that has become the biggest challenge for today’s world. In this context, the agri-food sector has a considerable environmental impact in terms of water and energy consumption. For about two decades, the Water–Energy–Food Nexus (WEF) Nexus has been trying to address this problem, focusing on efficient interrelationships among these dimensions. The objective of this work is to analyse the evolution of research on WEF Nexus in the agri-food sector and its development in scientific databases. For that purpose, a bibliometric study was carried out with publications obtained from the Scopus database, examining the main journals, authors, institutions, countries, subject areas, funding sponsors, and keywords. Moreover, a final section is specifically dedicated to the agri-food innovations in WEF Nexus in order to explore innovative aspects to effectively overcome technical barriers that hinder a real implementation of the Nexus approach. The results show that, over the past decade, Nexus research in the agri-food sector has been growing exponentially. The top country in this field is USA, the most studied area is environmental science, and the most relevant keywords are “energy use”, “water budget”, “food security”, “sustainable development”, and “water resources”.

Life Cycle Assessment of Cement Production with Marble Waste Sludges.

The construction industry has a considerable environmental impact in societies, which must be controlled to achieve adequate sustainability levels. In particular, cement production contributes 5–8% of CO2 emissions worldwide, mainly from the utilization of clinker. This study applied Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to investigate the environmental impact of cement production and explore environmental improvements obtained by adding marble waste sludges in the manufacture of Portland cement. It was considered that 6–35% of the limestone required for its production could be supplied by marble waste sludge (mainly calcite), meeting the EN 197-1:2011 norm. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data were obtained from the Ecovent database using commercial LCA software. All life cycle impact assessment indicators were lower for the proposed “eco-cement” than for conventional cement, attributable to changes in the utilization of limestone and clinker. The most favorable results were achieved when marble waste sludge completely replaced limestone and was added to clinker at 35%. In comparison to conventional Portland cement production, this process reduced GHG emissions by 34%, the use of turbine waters by 60%, and the emission of particles into the atmosphere by 50%. Application of LCA methodology allowed evaluation of the environmental impact and improvements obtained with the production of a type of functional eco-cement. This approach is indispensable for evaluating the environmental benefits of using marble waste sludges in the production of cement.

Investment decisions in distributed renewable energy considering economic performance and life-cycle environmental impact

Using renewable energy is suggested as an environmentally superior strategy in lots of recent literature. However, the life-cycle effect of using distributed renewable energy (DRE) on the environment is still not well understood. In this paper, we adopt a perspective of life-cycle environmental impact and analytically investigate investment decisions in DRE with the consideration of both profit and environmental impact. According to the presence or absence of electricity from the utility firm, we build a cost minimization model respectively. The established models can capture uncertainty in both the supply of and demand for electricity. We make comparisons on the total environmental impact and profit between different investment choices in DRE. The result shows that an increase in the DRE generation can lead to environment improvement only under some certain conditions. We find that the intermittency of renewable energy sources and the high-emission and high-operating-cost of backup energy sources affect the investment decisions in DRE. We also investigate the impact of the utility firm on investment decisions in DRE from economic and environmental perspectives. We provide the distributed generator’s selling price range and the utility firm’s retail price range such that the incentive compatible region is nonempty.

Non-sterile examination gloves and sterile surgical gloves: which are more sustainable?

Healthcare professionals should consider environmental sustainability when using personal protective equipment (PPE). One of the most frequently used items of PPE in medical settings are gloves. This study aims to quantify the environmental impact of sterile versus non-sterile gloves using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. This study used three glove types: non-sterile gloves and sterile gloves (latex and latex-free). Sixteen different environmental impact categories were used to demonstrate the impact of each glove type. Non-sterile gloves had the least environmental impact in all categories. The two types of sterile gloves, non-latex (synthetic rubber) and latex (natural rubber), performed similarly, although the non-latex gloves had a greater impact on ozone depletion, mineral use and ionizing radiation. For climate change impact, sterile latex gloves were 11.6 times higher than non-sterile gloves. This study found that for both sterile type gloves (latex and non-latex), the manufacture of the gloves contributes to the most considerable environmental impact, with an average of 64.37% for sterile latex gloves and 60.48% for non-latex sterile gloves. Using the LCA methodology, this study quantitatively demonstrated the environmental impact of sterile versus non-sterile gloves.