Limit your scrub suits environmental footprint
By choosing reusable scrub suits you will save:
Find out more about the results
The figures are based on the comparative LCA "Provide an operating room (OR) employee with scrub suits on a daily basis during 4 years’ service". The LCA went through a critical review process. Peer board was made up of LCA experts.
Main assumptions:
- Employees use at least 1 scrub suit per person per day. The LCA was based on a reference flow of 1 scrub suit per person per day, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to study the impact of using 1.5 or 1.8 single-use scrub suits per person per day. Client data showed that an average of 1.86 single-use scrub suits per person per day are used.
- Reusable scrub suits are washed in an industrial laundry to be reused, and last for 63.5 wears on average.
- Single-use scrub suits are only used once.
- Number of days per year is conservative: 47 weeks per year, 5 days per week.
Methodology: ISO 14040/14044, ILCD 2011 Midpoint method, Environmental Footprint 3.1 method for fossil energy use.
Database: ecoinvent 3.4, ecoinvent 3.11 for fossil energy use, supplier and Elis specific data.
Assumptions and results were published in the renowned scientific journal Cleaner Environmental Systems. The article is available at this address.
Steps analyzed in the LCA
environmental impact reduction
The results include the full life cycle from raw material to end of life, including the washing process for the reusable solution and come from an ISO 14040 and 14044 LCA that went through a third-party review.
Elis, a leader in circular services, allows businesses to achieve optimal hygiene and protection for their employees and customers. Elis offers its clients products that are maintained, repaired, reused, and reemployed to optimize their usage and lifespan. Elis is convinced that the circular economy model, which notably aims at reducing consumption of natural resources by optimizing the lifespan of products, is a sustainable solution to address today's environmental challenges. The services offered by Elis represent a sustainable alternative to the simple purchase or use of products or to single-use disposable products. More than 80% of the Group turnover is based on the product-as-a-service business model.
Elis carried out a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) covering the full life cycle of scrub suits, including garment production, washing, delivery and end of life. The LCA compared reusable to single-use scrub suits.
Assumptions and results were published in the renowned scientific journal Cleaner Environmental Systems. The article is available at this address.
The LCA was based on a reference flow of 1 scrub suit per person per day, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to study the impact of using 1.5 or 1.8 single-use scrub suits per person per day. Client data showed that an average of 1.86 single-use scrub suits per person per day are used.
The figures come from the comparative LCA “Provide an operating room (OR) employee with scrub suits on a daily basis during 4 years’ service” published in 2022. The LCA went through a critical review process. Peer board was made up of LCA experts.
Methodology: ISO 14040/14044, ILCD 2011 Midpoint method, Environmental Footprint 3.1 method for fossil energy use
Database: ecoinvent 3.4, ecoinvent 3.11 for fossil energy use; supplier and Elis specific data.
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