How do I calculate the carbon footprint of an HDPE drum?
An HDPE drum is mostly resin: multiply the drum weight by the resin supplier's per-kg figure, then add blow moulding, cooling and compressed air electricity. Divide the unit's energy by drums passed.
Material
- HDPE resin by drum weight.
- Masterbatch and UV stabilizer.
- Caps, bungs and rings.
Process
- Blow moulding machines.
- Chillers and compressed air.
- Leak testing and stacking.
Per drum
Report per drum by capacity and weight. Regrind of flash and rejects lowers fresh resin use.
Worked example: HDPE drum unit per drum (one month)
- Electricity: 60,000 kWh x 0.710 = 42,600 kg CO2
- Drums produced: 30,000
- Plant total: 42,600 / 30,000 = 1.420 kg CO2 per drum
- Add resin 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.