| Title | Disposable baby diapers: Life cycle costs, eco-efficiency and circular economy |
|---|---|
| ID_Doc | 28819 |
| Authors | Mendoza, JMF; D'Aponte, F; Gualtieri, D; Azapagic, A |
| Title | Disposable baby diapers: Life cycle costs, eco-efficiency and circular economy |
| Year | 2019 |
| Published | |
| Abstract | The literature on baby diapers has so far focused on environmental implications of using cloth instead of disposable products, utilising bio-materials or enabling recycling and composting. However, no study to date has examined the life cycle costs and eco-efficiency implications of cleaner production of disposable diapers. Therefore, this paper sets out to evaluate the economic and environmental savings that could be achieved by eco-design and cleaner production of disposable baby diapers. This involves the use of an optimised absorbent core and innovative bonding technologies to replace gluing systems in diaper manufacturing. The analysis is carried out at different production and consumption scales: a single production platform, a whole industrial plant, a country and the European Union (EU). A cradle-to-grave life cycle costing demonstrates that the novel design and manufacture of the so-called "glueless" diapers reduce costs by 11% compared to the conventional product. This is equivalent to saving (sic)250 million at the EU level. Likewise, the eco-efficiency analysis shows that the glueless diapers are 7%-170% more ecoefficient ((sic)/impact) than the standard diapers, depending on the environmental impact considered. Still, eco-design and cleaner production will not help to resolve the underlying critical issue of the linear material consumption and waste generation associated with the use of disposable baby diapers. Further industrial efforts must concentrate on finding solutions to facilitate implementation of circular economy principles for these products. This calls for the development of new circular business models as discussed in the paper. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Similar Articles
| ID | Score | Article |
|---|---|---|
20343
|
Hoffmann, BS; Morais, JD; Teodoro, PF Life cycle assessment of innovative circular business models for modern cloth diapers(2020) | |
| 27733
|
Somers, MJ; Alfaro, JF; Lewis, GM Feasibility of superabsorbent polymer recycling and reuse in disposable absorbent hygiene products(2021) | |
| 2507
|
Tariq, H; Ali, Y; Khan, AU; Petrillo, A; De Felice, F Sustainable production of diapers and their potential outputs for the Pakistani market in the circular economy perspective(2021) | |
| 16777
|
Willskytt, S; Tillman, AM Resource efficiency of consumables - Life cycle assessment of incontinence products(2019) | |
| 22243
|
Ferronato, N; Pinedo, MLN; Torretta, V Assessment of Used Baby Diapers Composting in Bolivia(2020)Sustainability, 12.0, 12 |