Are Sheet Masks Sustainable? It Depends...

We asked Bluebird Climate, a software platform that makes it easy to measure, improve, and communicate sustainability, to measure the impact of the Forever Eye Mask vs. Single Use Eye Masks. Here's what they found. For a more visual presentation, you can see the full analysis here.

Average Disposable Eye Mask:

1 to 1 comparison of Forever Eye Mask (by usage, paired with an Eye Cream) vs. a single use eye mask (average of viscose, paper, cotton, and hydra-gel, for individuals)

• How many times do you need to use Forever Eye Mask for the carbon & waste impact to be on par with single use eye masks? 11 times 
• Carbon: 11 Times
• Waste: 5 Times
• Plastic Waste: 1 Time

Annual Usage Equivalencies (1 customer): 

• If you used Forever Eye Mask (paired with an Eye Cream) daily for a year, you’d save…
• 37.8kg of Carbon
• 3.1kg of Waste
• 1.4kg of Plastic Waste

…when compared to using disposable eye masks. 

• That’s the equivalent of…

• Driving 95 fewer miles in a passenger car
• Not charging your iPhone 13 Pro for 19 years
• Not scrolling through Tik Tok 2 hours per day for 32.5 years

 Waste:

• Sending 13 fewer pizza boxes to landfill 
• Sending 153 fewer plastic water bottles to landfill
• Using 3,545 fewer plastic straws

• If you used Forever Eye Mask (paired with an Eye Cream) twice per week for a year, you’d save…
• 10kg of Carbon
• .9kg of Waste
• .4kg of Plastic Waste

…when compared to using disposable eye masks. 

• That’s the equivalent of…
• Driving 25 fewer miles in a passenger car
• Not charging your iPhone 13 Pro for 5 years
• Not scrolling through Tik Tok 2 hours per day for 8.5 years
• Sending 4 fewer pizza boxes to landfill 
• Sending 43 fewer plastic water bottles to landfill
• Using 1,003 fewer plastic straws

Detailed Stats: 

• After 1 use of Forever Eye Mask paired with an Eye Cream, FEM generates
• Carbon Impact: 89% more carbon than 1 disposable eye mask (1,100.5g vs. 112.8g)
• Waste Impact: 77% more waste than 1 disposable eye mask (41.3g vs 9.6g)
• Plastic Waste Impact: 8% less plastic waste than 1 disposable eye mask (4.3g vs. 4.7g)

• After 10 uses of Forever Eye Mask paired with an Eye Cream, FEM generates
• Carbon Impact: 2% more carbon than 10 disposable viscose eye masks (1,156.3g vs. 1128.5g)
• Waste Impact: 87% less waste than 10 disposable viscose eye masks (48.9g vs 95.8g)
• Plastic Waste Impact: 75% less plastic waste  than 10 disposable viscose eye masks (11.6g vs. 47.1g)

• After 104 (bi-weekly) uses of Forever Eye Mask paired with an Eye Cream, FEM generates
• Carbon Impact: 85% less carbon than 104 disposable viscose eye masks (1,739.1g vs. 11,736.2g)
• Waste Impact: 87% less waste than 104 disposable viscose eye masks (129.4g vs 996.7g)
• Plastic Waste Impact: 82% less plastic waste  than 104 disposable viscose eye masks (88.1g vs. 489.7g)

• After 365 (clinically tested lifetime) uses of Forever Eye Mask paired with an Eye Cream, FEM generates
• Carbon Impact: 92% less carbon than 365 disposable viscose eye masks (3,357.3g vs. 41,189.7g)
• Waste Impact: 90% less waste than 365 disposable viscose eye masks (352.8g vs 3,497.9g)
• Plastic Waste Impact: 83% less plastic waste  than 365 disposable viscose eye masks (300.3g vs. 1,718.5g)
• Forever Eye Mask “lifetime” uses (365) on an annual volume basis (200,000 units per year) compared to “lifetime” purchases of single use viscose eye masks (365*200,000 = 73M): 

Carbon Impact: 7,566 tonnes saved

• 1,141 fewer flights around the world
• 18.9 million fewer miles driven in a passenger car
• 1.39 billion fewer iPhone 13 Pro charges
• 4.7 billion fewer hours scrolling Tik Tok

• 10,467 fewer garbage bags sent to landfill
• 50 fewer NYC garbage trucks full of trash
• 2.7 million fewer pizza boxes sent to landfill

Plastic Waste Impact: 284 tonnes saved

• 4,720 fewer garbage bags full of plastic
• 23 fewer NYC garbage trucks full of plastic
• 31 million fewer plastic water bottles sent to landfill
• 709 million fewer plastic straws sent to landfill

Assumptions:

• Eye Cream follows our standard Eye Cream benchmark:

• Primary packaging is Polypropylene Jar & Screw Cap, LDPE Disc, Mixed Paper/Vinyl Label, Paper Insert, SBS Folding Carton, and follows an international supply chain (All components made in China, Product filled in USA, Product shipped to two US Distributors) 50 doses per bottle (15ml x .3g per dose)
• Product ‘fill’ emissions are not taken into account for this analysis. Only fill claim/doses have been considered for transportation & dose metrics. 
• Forever Eye Mask  “Lifetime” = 365 uses (based on available clinical testing) 

• Single use Eye Mask is defined as a relative average of Single-Pack disposable Viscose, Paper, Cotton Eye Masks, and a 60-count (30 dose) Multi-Pack of dissolvable Hydra-gel Eye Masks (All components sourced and co-manufactured in China, Shipped to US distributor) 

• Viscose: Single-Pack disposable Eye Mask made of 100% Viscose, pouch & backing film are made of LDPE film, international supply chain mirroring Forever Eye Mask (All components sourced and co-manufactured in China, Shipped to US distributor) 

• Paper: Single-Pack disposable Eye Mask made of 100% Paper, pouch & backing film are made of LDPE film, international supply chain mirroring Forever Eye Mask (All components sourced and co-manufactured in China, Shipped to US distributor) 

• Cotton: Single-Pack disposable Eye Mask made of 100% Cotton, pouch & backing film are made of LDPE film, international supply chain mirroring Forever Eye Mask (All components sourced and co-manufactured in China, Shipped to US distributor) 

• Gel: Multi-Pack dissolvable Eye Mask made of 100% Hydra-Gel, jar and screw cap are made of PP, applicator spatula made of UF, international supply chain mirroring Forever Eye Mask (All components sourced and co-manufactured in China, Shipped to US distributor) 

• Functional unit of 60 individual hydrogel eye masks (30 doses total) is treated as “fill” and therefore not accounted for in this analysis. 

Sensitivity Analysis:

• We ran a sensitivity analysis of the disposable eye mask following two international supply chains

• Supply Chain 1: all components manufactured in China and shipped to the US for co-manufacturing, then shipped to two US DC’s. 
• Supply Chain 2: all components manufactured and product co-manufactured in China, then shipped to one US DC (mirroring Forever Eye Mask Supply Chain). 
• We decided to move forward with Supply Chain 2, due to the higher likelihood of a disposable eye mask product being completely manufactured in one country, then shipped to distribution centers. This also allows us to make a direct 1 to 1 comparison of packaging materials by normalizing transportation distance traveled.  (DR, 3/17/22