How do I calculate the carbon footprint of an adult diaper?
Weigh the fluff pulp, superabsorbent polymer, non-wovens, backsheet and elastics per piece and multiply by supplier figures. Add converting line energy, then divide the plant's energy by pieces made.
Material
- Fluff pulp and superabsorbent polymer.
- Non-woven top sheet and PE backsheet.
- Elastics, tapes and adhesive.
Process
- Fluff defibering and core forming.
- Laminating layers on the converting line.
- Cutting, folding and packing.
Per piece
Report per piece by size and weight. Pulp and superabsorbent usually make up most of the figure.
Worked example: plant energy per piece (one month)
- Electricity: 80,000 kWh x 0.710 = 56,800 kg CO2
- Pieces made: 2,000,000
- Plant total: 56,800 / 2,000,000 = 0.0284 kg CO2 per piece
- Add pulp, superabsorbent and non-wovens for the full figure
Inputs are illustrative; use your own bills and production records.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.
Sources: GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults), CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0
Last reviewed 2026-10-21.