Food processing, retail, healthcare and laboratory environments are just a few of the many industries that rely daily on disposable gloves. The environmental challenge with these products is that most are intended for one use only and they are typically used in high volume, which creates a significant amount of waste. Misunderstanding of some common terms related to environmental responsibility can make it even more difficult to balance good environmental practice with business needs.

Two experts from Ansell help break down terms, detail some myths and help explain ways to go about striking that balance in your organization.

Nitrile Disposable Gloves

In the 1990s, disposable nitrile gloves emerged as a popular alternative to latex and other rubber materials for their hypoallergenic properties and their resistance to oil and chemicals. Nitrile is short for nitrile butadiene rubber, a synthetic rubber made of acrylonitrile and butadiene. When these two materials are combined by polymerization, the chemical reaction results in nitrile. At this stage, the material is somewhat rigid, so manufacturers add other chemicals to soften the material and make it thinner and more flexible.

Nitrile remains a popular choice for disposable gloves, but as companies are charged with paying greater attention to how they create and manage waste, it can be important to understand both how gloves are made and what happens when the gloves come off.

Biodegradable and Degradable: What’s the Difference?

There is a critical difference between two similar terms that describe the post-use state of disposable gloves, and that difference is connected to the manufacturing process.

Fossil-based plastics or rubber are made from petrochemicals, while bio-based materials originate from renewable resources, such as plant waste. Nitrile is a fossil-based polymer, so while it can degrade over time, it is not a biodegradable material. Artha Salgado, director of environmental sustainability at Ansell, believes there’s still a lot of confusion about biodegradability.

“The fundamental misunderstanding," he said, "is the difference between biodegradability and degradability. Something that is degradable is not necessarily biodegradable. Biodegrading happens when a product or material decreases over time due to organic activity. Something that degrades is losing its properties over time.”

Geraldo Oliveira, vice president of research and development at Ansell, explained these terms another way: “In terms of rubber, degradation is when the material loses its elongation properties. The chain in the polymer starts to break down. Biodegradation is when a bacteria, for example, considers the product part of its food chain. So it's going to be consumed and turned into a natural byproduct. There is no living organism that can biodegrade rubber.” 

Some manufacturers use additives in their products to help aid in biodegradability, but the problem with some of these agents is that they can leave behind microplastics which persist in the environment and can be harmful to ecosystems.

Purchasing and Lifecycle Assessments

According to Artha and Geraldo, a manufacturer’s thorough and documented lifecycle assessment can help consumers understand how their purchase is connected to their sustainability goals.

A full lifecycle assessment (LCA) is a method of evaluating the environmental impact at every stage of a product’s existence. A typical LCA might begin with the raw material and how it’s extracted and sourced. An assessment of the material’s processing and manufacture should reveal, for example, how much water or energy is consumed during those phases. An LCA will also analyze a product’s distribution, as well as the packaging material used for shipment. Any emissions associated with the use of the product at every stage of its life up to its final disposal are also important elements of a proper LCA. 

An LCA should uncover opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of a product. For example, Ansell conducted an LCA on nitrile disposable gloves which revealed that the end-of-life impact is less than 2%, with most of the environmental impact stemming from the manufacturing and logistics phases. This highlights that in many cases, the manufacturing process for disposable nitrile gloves, as well as the logistics used to distribute them, can have a more significant environmental impact than the material itself. Therefore, purchasing managers could use an LCA to help decide whether products will help them meet their sustainability goals.