How do I calculate the carbon footprint of an FIBC jumbo bag?
Multiply the polypropylene fabric, webbing loops and liner per bag by the resin supplier's figure, then add tape extrusion, weaving, coating and stitching electricity. Divide the plant's energy by bags made.
Material
- Polypropylene for tape, fabric and loops.
- LDPE coating or liner.
- Thread and labels.
Process
- Tape extrusion line.
- Circular looms and coating.
- Cutting and stitching.
Per bag
Report per bag by its safe working load and weight, since a 1,000 kg bag and a 2,000 kg bag use different fabric weights.
Worked example: FIBC jumbo bag unit per bag (one month)
- Electricity: 150,000 kWh x 0.710 = 106,500 kg CO2
- Bags produced: 100,000
- Plant total: 106,500 / 100,000 = 1.065 kg CO2 per bag
- Add polypropylene 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.