PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Vozzola, Eric AU - Overcash, Michael AU - Griffing, Evan TI - Life Cycle Assessment of Cleanroom Coveralls: Reusable and Disposable AID - 10.5731/pdajpst.2017.007864 DP - 2018 Jan 01 TA - PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology PG - pdajpst.2017.007864 4099 - http://journal.pda.org/content/early/2018/02/14/pdajpst.2017.007864.short 4100 - http://journal.pda.org/content/early/2018/02/14/pdajpst.2017.007864.full AB - Cleanroom garments serve a critical role in such industries as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and semiconductor manufacturing. These textiles are available in reusable and disposable alternatives. In this report, the environmental sustainability of cleanroom coveralls is examined using life cycle assessment technology. The complete supply chain, manufacture, use, and end-of-life phases for reusable and disposable cleanroom coveralls are compared on a cradle-to-end-of-life cycle basis. Three industry representative coveralls are examined: a reusable woven polyethylene terephthalate (PET) coverall, a disposable flash spunbonded high density polyethylene (HDPE) coverall, and a disposable spunbond-meltblown-spunbond polypropylene (SMS PP) coverall. The reusable cleanroom coverall system shows substantial improvements over both disposable cleanroom coverall systems in all environmental impact categories. The improvements over the disposable HDPE coverall were 34% lower process energy (PE), 23% lower natural resource energy (NRE), 27% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and 73% lower blue water consumption. The improvements over the disposable SMS PP coverall were 59% lower PE, 56% lower NRE, 57% lower GHG emissions, and 77% lower blue water consumption. In addition, the reusable system shows a 94-96% reduction in solid waste to the landfill from the cleanroom facility. Between the two disposable cleanroom coveralls, the flash spunbonded HDPE coverall shows a measurable environmental improvement over the SMS PP coverall.