The Sustainability Evaluation of Masks Based on the Integrated Rank Sum Ratio and Entropy Weight Method
Sustainability
; 14(9):5706, 2022.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-1842949
ABSTRACT
Due to the seriousness of COVID-19, masks are considered to be as a key and effective device to cut off the spread of viruses and are widely used by people, such as doctors and patients. Hundreds of millions of masks used worldwide in daily life will inevitably cause huge pollution and damage to the environment. However, existing research has not yet provided a method to simultaneously evaluate the economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainable design of masks, which brings great barriers and challenges for designers to make sustainability decisions on masks and consumers’ behavioral decisions on mask purchases. Consequently, on the basis of principles of sustainability evaluation of masks, this work evaluates ten masks of different materials (including two newly designed masks) by using a novel hybrid of rank-sum ratio and entropy weight method. The results indicate that some disposable masks also show better sustainability than reusable masks, and in addition, the integrated rank-sum ratio and entropy weight method can effectively realize the sustainability evaluation of masks. The main contribution is to furnish an effective decision-making reference for sustainability evaluation of masks while greatly reducing the negative impacts of masks on the environment during the epidemic.
Environmental Studies; product design; sustainability evaluation; rank-sum-ratio method; entropy weight method; Epidemics; Doctors; Entropy (statistics); Sustainability; Social factors; Entropy; Masks; Environmental impact; COVID-19; Sustainable design; Decision making; Evaluation; Aesthetics; Designers; Viruses; Recycling; Consumption; Design; Weighting methods; Methods; Coronaviruses; Disease transmission
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Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Language:
English
Journal:
Sustainability
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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