How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a gauze bandage roll?
Add the cotton yarn per roll and its supplier figure, then weaving, bleaching and drying energy, and cutting and packing. Divide the unit's energy by rolls made, stated by width and length.
Material
- Cotton yarn by weight per roll.
- Bleaching chemicals.
- Wrappers and cartons.
Process
- Weaving on looms.
- Bleaching and drying with steam.
- Cutting, rolling, sterilising and packing.
Per roll
Report per roll by width and length, since material scales directly with area.
Worked example: gauze bandage unit per roll (one month)
- Electricity: 15,000 kWh x 0.710 = 10,650 kg CO2
- Coal: 10,000 kg x 2.42 = 24,200 kg CO2
- Rolls produced: 500,000
- Plant total: 34,850 / 500,000 = 0.0697 kg CO2 per roll
- Add cotton yarn 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.
- Product carbon footprint calculator
- Absorbent cotton footprint
- Disposable syringe footprint
- Textile industry
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.