How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a backpack or school bag?
Weigh each material in the bag: polyester or nylon fabric, foam, webbing, zips and buckles. Multiply each by its supplier's per-kg figure, add cutting, stitching and packing energy, then divide the unit's electricity by bags passed.
Materials
- Coated polyester or nylon fabric by weight, including cutting waste.
- Foam padding, mesh, webbing and binding tape.
- Zips, sliders, buckles and plastic stiffeners.
Making
- Cutting presses, sewing and bar-tack machines.
- Printing or heat transfer of logos.
- Poly bags, hang tags and cartons.
Per piece
Report per bag by model; the material list usually explains most of the difference between models.
Worked example: bag unit per piece (one month)
- Electricity: 18,000 kWh x 0.710 = 12,780 kg CO2
- Bags passed: 30,000
- Plant total: 12,780 / 30,000 = 0.426 kg CO2 per bag
- Add fabric, foam, zips and buckles 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.