How do I calculate the carbon footprint of an IV fluid bottle?
Add the plastic bottle, closure, salts and water treatment per bottle, then the blow-fill-seal machine electricity and steam for terminal sterilisation. Divide the plant's energy by bottles released and report by volume.
Materials
- Polypropylene or LDPE granules for the bottle.
- Sodium chloride, dextrose and other salts.
- Closures, labels and cartons.
Process
- Water for injection plant.
- Blow-fill-seal machines.
- Autoclave sterilisation with steam, then inspection.
Per bottle
Report per bottle by millilitres. Water for injection and sterilisation steam are large energy uses, so meter them.
Worked example: IV fluid bottle unit per bottle (one month)
- Electricity: 80,000 kWh x 0.710 = 56,800 kg CO2
- PNG: 20,000 SCM x 2.05 = 41,000 kg CO2
- Bottles released: 1,000,000
- Plant total: 97,800 / 1,000,000 = 0.0978 kg CO2 per bottle
- Add polymer, salts and packing 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
- Pharma formulation footprint
- Oral liquid medicine footprint
- Chemical 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.