LCA of a toothbrush - DD 521

May 3, 2019 Submitted by-

System Design for Sustainability Ravinder Bedi
(160121035)
 ● 4th grade

● Advanced curriculum

Product ● 18 students
Colgate Cibaca ZZ shaped soft bristles
toothbrush worth INR 14
Disintegrate the Research about the materials found Find the eco cost of the
toothbrush into its in the toothbrush and processes given toothbrush by doing
constituents (including involved in making them. LCA through Idemat app.
packaging).

Make
Collect Find the
Disintegrate Weigh necessary
Data eco cost
assumptions

Weigh each of the Make assumptions related to the

separated parts and transportation and
note down their masses. manufacturing processing to get
a valid data input for Idemat.
The components resulting from the disassembling
of the toothbrush are given below:

1. Brush handle

2. Bristles

3. Paper for labels

4. Plastic Packaging
The masses of disintegrated parts are measured with the help of laboratory balance.
Total mass of bristles
= (3.404 - 2.966) g
= 0.438 g

Total mass of the

toothbrush is 15.436 g
Research
Polypropylene plastic pellets are
converted into a mechanically stable
and durable handle by injection
molding as shown alongside.

PP is easily recyclable if segregated

from other waste streams.

PET packaging is light, stable and

easier for transportation, that makes it
the most widely used packaging
plastic.

The bristles are trimmed from above

to give them their desired shape.
 ● Handle - Polypropylene - Injection
molding

● Bristles - Nylon 6 - Extrusion

Materials and Processes ● Plastic Packaging - PET, biobased -

Thermoforming

● Paper for packaging and labeling -

Recycled paper

● Brown kraft paper for corrugated

cardboard
This toothbrush was
manufactured at Varsa
Plastic Industries Pvt. Ltd.,
Aurangabad.

The shortest distance (by

road) between the place of
manufacturing and IIT
Guwahati is 2391 km.
Assumptions
1. The toothbrush passes through a trimming
machine which makes ’Z’ shaped bristles so some
mass of bristles is lost in the process. Moreover
some of the nylon bristles don’t get separated
manually, they are embedded in the cores of the
PP handle.
Considering these hidden masses, the total mass
of the bristles is (0.438 + 0.100 +0.050)g = 0.588
g and that of the handle is 10.595 g since 0.100 g
is in the form of bristles fixed in its core.

2. The effect of the blue dye used to colour the

bristles and the ink used on the label has been
ignored.
3. Assumptions about the cardboard box - A cardboard box used for transportation is
assumed to have dimensions 44cm*30cm*30cm and mass of 600 g. The number of
toothbrushes in each box is calculated by dividing the volume of cardboard by the
volume of one toothbrush (75.6 cubic cm) by assuming the toothbrush along with
packaging to be a nearly cuboidal block. This number turns out to be 523. Total mass of
the cardboard and brushes system is calculated as (523*15.436 + 600) g = 8673.028 g.

4. Assumptions about the truck - It is assumed that the truck used for transportation
has dimensions 12m*2.5m*3m which can accommodate around 2272 boxes by loading
upto maximum volume. The total weight of 2272 boxes comes close to 19.7 tons which
is well below the maximum capacity of the truck i.e. 24 tons. So, it is concluded that the
truck is filled by volume.
5. For final LCA calculations I have assumed that there are 2250 boxes (each one
consisting of 523 toothbrushes) of corrugated cardboard and the space for 22
cardboard boxes has been assumed to be used for thermocol or styrofoam lining
for ensuring the safety of the commodities and for absorbing jerks or shocks.
The total number of toothbrushes to be transported in one trip = 2250*523
= 1176750

6. LCA has been calculated on the basis of Landfill scenario.

LCA Calculation with
IdematLightLCA
LCA of one consignment with 2250 boxes containing 1176750 Colgate Cibaca toothbrushes
Result:
The eco cost of one consignment comprising of
1176750 toothbrushes is equal to 22778.86 euro
or 17,63,726.35INR.
Dividing the above cost by number of
toothbrushes we can get the eco cost of one
toothbrush. This is a better way to calculate the
eco cost of a single commodity rather than
calculating its individual LCA in which the app may
not report costs upto more significant digits
thereby decreasing the accuracy.

Therefore, the eco cost of one piece of the given

toothbrush is 0.01935 euro or 1.50 INR.
Thank You