Biodegradable medical gowns are designed to be greener than conventional counterparts. However, the degree to which these garments benefit the environment might not be as great as once thought. A new study finds that many garments labelled as ‘biodegradable’ actually produce harmful greenhouse gases.
Are types of disposable plasticized medical gowns. The use of these types of garments has surged since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and there has been a shift away from re-launderable gowns made from materials like cotton. Many of the disposable gowns end up in landfill, unless they are deemed to be heavily contaminated and here sterilisation processes are required to inactivate any pathogens on the gown.
To qualify as ‘biodegradable’ this typically refers to a version of gown that decomposes faster than conventional gowns. This has led many to conclude that this offers a ‘greener option’ since less space is used. However, this does not account for the release of chronic emissions from landfills.
According to lead researcher Fengqi You, professor in energy systems engineering at Cornell University: “Plasticized conventional medical gowns take many years to break down and the biodegradable gowns degrade much faster, but they produce gas emissions faster like added methane and carbon dioxide than regular ones in a landfill.”
The research study finds that biodegradable gown production poses an additional 11 percent higher ecotoxicity rate than conventional alternatives. The plastic breaks into smaller things. However, these smaller particles decompose into gas, and this adds to the greenhouse gases that go into the air.
There are measures that can be taken, however. Recommended actions include adopting landfill gas capture and utilisation processes, which can reduce 9.79 percent of greenhouse emissions.
Furthermore, by improving the gas capture efficiency above 85 percent can make biodegradable gowns more environmentally sustainable than conventional gowns. Breakdown products like oils could be recycled as feedstock to petrochemical plants.
From one perspective, conventional gowns are environmentally and socially sustainable because they can pose 14 percent less toxicity to humans, cause 10% fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and are nearly 10 percent less toxic to freshwater when compared to biodegradable gowns in landfills with extra gas emissions.
The research appears in the Journal of Cleaner Production, titled “How sustainable are the biodegradable medical gowns via environmental and social life cycle assessment?”
