Sustainable alternatives to polyethylene (PE) for medical applications: A fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü, Endüstri Mühendisliği Anabilim Dalı, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2025

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: SOULAYMA EL HALLAB

Danışman: Duygun Fatih Demirel

Özet:

This research tackles the major environmental issues presented by polyethylene (PE) plastics

in healthcare settings by creating a thorough assessment framework for sustainable

substitutes. Although PE is commonly used in medical packaging and devices (25-30% of

medical plastics), its origin from petroleum and low recyclability lead to significant

environmental harm. Employing a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach, the study

assessed four possible options: Bio-PE, PLA, PBS, and PHA, based on six essential criteria:

environmental influence, expense, quality, accessibility, regulatory conditions, and

performance alignment. The framework incorporated Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP)

for assessing criteria weights from expert evaluations and employed Fuzzy Technique

for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (F-TOPSIS) for ranking the alternatives.

Findings showed Bio-PE to be the best option with a closeness coefficient of 0.517,

succeeded by PLA (0.495), PBS (0.433), and PHA (0.372). Bio-PE exhibited outstanding

overall performance thanks to its excellent regulatory adherence, high-quality attributes, and

technical capabilities like traditional PE, while providing a reduction in carbon footprint of

up to 75%. Sensitivity analysis validated the strength of these results in different

prioritization scenarios. Future studies may concentrate on broadening the assessment framework to encompass more emerging biomaterials, performing physical tests and clinical

trials of the selected alternatives in particular medical applications, and creating advanced

cycle assessment models that reflect the total environmental impact throughout regional

healthcare systems.