“In general, disposable gowns had higher impacts in most categories because environmental impacts associated with gown manufacture were incurred for each gown use. This is in contrast to the reusable gown life cycle, which although incurring washing impacts, the gown survives over multiple uses, so only a small portion of manufacturing impacts are incurred at each use.”
Life Cycle Assessment Comparing Laundered Surgical Gowns with Polypropylene Based Disposable Gowns, November 2008 Source – Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) Centre for Design prepared for the Australian Industry Group and the Textile Rental and Laundry Association
