How do I calculate the carbon footprint of areca leaf plates?
Read the unit's electricity for heated presses, washing and drying, multiply by the grid factor and divide by plates passed. Add collection transport and packing. The leaf is a crop residue, so the press electricity is usually most of the figure.
Inputs
- Fallen areca sheaths, collected and stored; record the diesel used to collect them.
- Water for washing.
- Shrink film and cartons.
Process
- Washing and sun or dryer drying.
- Hydraulic or pneumatic presses with heated dies, the main electricity load.
- Trimming, sorting and packing.
Per plate
Report per plate by size. Rejected plates and trimmings are usually composted, not counted as product.
Worked example: leaf plate unit per plate (one month)
- Electricity: 6,000 kWh x 0.710 = 4,260 kg CO2
- Collection diesel: 300 litres x 2.68 = 804 kg CO2
- Plates passed: 200,000
- Plant total: 5,064 / 200,000 = 0.0253 kg CO2 per plate
- Add packaging 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 2026-10-20.