Women's most common menstrual product is sanitary pads. Most disposable sanitary pads are constructed of up to 90% non-biodegradable plastics and bleached wood pulp. Throughout the sanitary pad's life cycle, there is a risk of exposure to toxic emissions harmful to humans and ecosystems. In contrast, disposable sanitary pads' health and environmental consequences have received little attention due to cultural stigma associated with menstruation and a lack of information regarding the chemical components used in sanitary pads. A case study has been performed at the Hempur company in Stockholm, Sweden, to evaluate potential environmental impacts of a sanitary disposal pad made almost entirely of unbleached bamboo pulp and polylactic plastic (PLA). The study's objectives were accomplished using a comparative life cycle assessment methodology to identify potential trade-offs between Hempur disposable sanitary pads and a conventional disposable sanitary pad consisting of non-biodegradable polymers and bleached wood pulp. Thus, understanding the study's results allows the implementation of recommendations to improve the environmental performance of Hempur sanitary pads. The study results indicate that Hempur plant-based sanitary pads, even though shipped to Sweden from China, have lower adverse environmental impacts —on average 40% less than conventional sanitary pads created using traditional materials and manufacturing sites in European countries. More than 80% of the overall impacts of the conventional sanitary pad were attributed to bleached wood pulp and low-density polyethylene. The upstream operations of Hempur sanitary pads were identified as the least environmentally friendly phase of the product due to the use of unbleached wood pulp and polylactic plastic, which together account for between 40% and 80% of all impact categories, most notably water scarcity and abiotic element depletion. Other factors and assumptions identified during the sensitivity analysis suggested the potential for reducing the environmental footprint of Hempur sanitary pads. By transitioning from coal to hydropower to generate electricity for bamboo pulp manufacturing, Hempur's upstream operations will dramatically improve their environmental performance, resulting in a reduction in global warming and acidification. Finally, this study suggests that other alternatives for PLA and use bamboo in the core part of Hempur sanitary pad should be considered and assessed. In this study, however, parts of the life cycle inventory process were omitted due to a lack of data on the materials and process method, which may affect the precision of the results.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-306882 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Mirzaie, Azita |
| Publisher | KTH, Hållbar utveckling, miljövetenskap och teknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | TRITA-ABE-MBT ; 21652 |
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