The carbon footprint of Bubble-PAPR™: A novel item of personal protective equipment

Background: Personal protective equipment has important environmental impacts, assessing these impacts is therefore an important element of personal protective equipment design. We applied carbon footprinting methodology to Bubble-PAPR^™, a novel, part-reusable and part-recyclable powered air-purifying respirator, designed at our institution. Current guidance states that disposable respirator masks can be worn for 1-h in the United Kingdom, whilst the Bubble-PAPR^™ allows prolonged use.

Methods: Following a detailed use-case analysis, the carbon footprint of each component was estimated using a bottom-up (attributional) cradle-to-grave process-based analysis. Modelling considered the use of virgin or closed loop recycled polyvinyl chloride for the disposable hood element, and disposal via infectious or recycling waste streams to estimate a per-use carbon footprint.

Results: The per-use carbon footprint with manufacture from virgin polyvinyl chloride and disposal via incineration is 0.805 kgCO₂e. With nine cycles of closed loop recycling and manufacture of the polyvinyl chloride hood (10 uses), the carbon footprint falls to an average of 0.570 kgCO₂e per use.

Conclusion: Carbon footprinting may contribute to the value proposition of this novel technology. We estimate that a single Bubble-PAPR^™ use has a higher carbon footprint than disposable respirator mask-based PPE. However, this is mitigated in circumstances when multiple disposable mask changes are required (e.g. prolonged use) and use may be justifiable when user comfort, visualisation and communication with patients and colleagues are essential.