Carbon Footprint Analysis on Alternate Disposal Strategies for Personal Protective Equipment Waste

The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) has gained universal acceptance as a critical measure for safeguarding individuals against hazardous environments, including exposure to infectious agents and harmful substances. The increased use of PPE across various industries has resulted in a significant rise in its consumption. Primarily, the steady surge in global COVID cases has caused a sudden rise in demand for PPE. However, the indiscreet and irrational disposal method can potentially augment the impending climate change problem. In the prevailing situation, there is a need to assess their current mode of disposal in terms of carbon emissions. The present study aims to perform carbon footprint analysis (CFA) on landfilling, incineration, and recycling methods of disposal for two scenarios (1 and 100 million PPE). The results indicate that the application of the recycling option could contribute to a situation with conceivably positive emissions with net savings in emissions of approximately 0.159 million kg CO2e/million PPE. In contrast, it shows that the emissions associated with incineration are substantially higher than the other two methods with emissions of more than 0.78 million kg CO2e/million PPE. Additionally, transportation factors such as haulage distance and vehicle type significantly influence overall emissions. For scenario II, emissions from recycling and landfilling increase by 383% and 390%, respectively, compared to a 100% increase for incineration. Based on the net emissions, the order of preference for the three disposal methods is recycling > landfilling > incineration, which is consistent for both scenarios. However, for the hypothetical infinite periods, the emissions from landfilling can potentially rise by more than ten times compared to a surveyable period of 30 years. These findings highlight the need for sustainable PPE waste management to reduce environmental impact.