Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Surgical Scrub Suits : The Case of Reusable and Disposable Scrubs used in Swedish Healthcare

Abstract: Within the healthcare sector, large quantities of different materials and products are consumed on a daily basis. Recurrently growing awareness about humanity’s negative impacts on the environment have initiated for environmental aspects to be considered on several levels within the healthcare sector. Introducing environmental guidelines within procurement is one example of such an initiative. However, in order to take such aspects into consideration, availability of environmental information concerning the products to be procured is necessary. This thesis was conducted to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts, in a life cycle perspective, of a single-use and a multi-use surgical scrub suit. Accordingly, the main purpose has been to give the County Councils of Örebro and Uppsala decision support and thereby enable them to take environmental impact into account in future procurement of surgical scrub suits. The evaluation is based on certain environmental aspects, assessed to be relevant and of interest for the given case. To ensure a methodical structure and high credibility, this LCA has been conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040-standard. The studied products are two types of surgical scrub suits, one reusable for 100 uses, and one disposable. Besides the lifespan, the material composition of the two products differs. Results showed that that the reusable scrubs have considerably lower environmental impact within the studied categories. The main reason for this is the longer lifespan of the reusable garments, which results in substantially decreased environmental impacts per use within all phases of the lifecycle except usage. Further, the results indicated that farming/production of cotton and usage of fossil fuel-based energy are important contributing factors within a majority of the assessed environmental impact categories. Currently available alternatives exist, which could possibly substitute these factors, and thus decrease the total environmental burden of the garments substantially.