Document Type

Thesis

Comments

This paper is a thesis for the Bryant University Honors Program.

First Faculty Advisor

Brian Blais

Second Faculty Advisor

Michael Gravier

Keywords

environmental impact; face masks

Publisher

Bryant University

Rights Management

CC-BY-NC-ND

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the environmental effects of different types of face masks (surgical and cloth). A comparison between different mask components is analyzed and an environmental impact is produced through the OpenLCA Software. The research question for this study is: What are the effects of different types of face masks on the environment? The expected result was that surgical masks would be worse for the environment because of the high consumption usage. The results of this study suggest that cloth masks have a worse environmental impact because of their level of usage.

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