Quintana-Gallardo Alberto, Del Rey Romina, González-Conca Salvador, Guillén-Guillamón Ignacio
Center for Physics Technologies (CTFAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
Center for Physics Technologies (CTFAMA), Escola Politècnica Superior de Gandia, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46730 Gandia, Spain.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Feb 23;15(5):1130. doi: 10.3390/polym15051130.
Hospitals generate huge amounts of nonwoven residues daily. This paper focused on studying the evolution of nonwoven waste generated in the Francesc de Borja Hospital, Spain, over the last few years and its relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective was to identify the most impacting pieces of nonwoven equipment in the hospital and to analyze possible solutions. The carbon footprint of the nonwoven equipment was studied through a life-cycle assessment. The results showed an apparent increase in the carbon footprint in the hospital from 2020. Additionally, due to the higher annual volume, the simple nonwoven gown used primarily for patients had a higher carbon footprint over a year than the more sophisticated surgical gowns. It can be concluded that developing a local circular economy strategy for medical equipment could be the solution to avoid the enormous waste generation and the carbon footprint of nonwoven production.
医院每天都会产生大量的非织造布残留物。本文着重研究了西班牙弗朗西斯科·德·博尔哈医院过去几年产生的非织造布废物的演变情况及其与新冠疫情的关系。主要目标是确定医院中影响最大的非织造布设备，并分析可能的解决方案。通过生命周期评估研究了非织造布设备的碳足迹。结果显示，自2020年以来，医院的碳足迹明显增加。此外，由于年使用量较大，主要供患者使用的简易非织造布隔离衣一年的碳足迹比更复杂的手术隔离衣更高。可以得出结论，为医疗设备制定地方循环经济战略可能是避免产生大量废物和非织造布生产碳足迹的解决方案。
