How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a knapsack sprayer?
Weigh the plastic tank, pump parts, lance, hose and straps per sprayer and multiply by supplier figures, adding the battery and motor for battery sprayers. Add moulding and assembly energy, then divide the plant's energy by sprayers made.
Material
- HDPE or PP tank.
- Pump parts, brass or plastic nozzle and lance.
- Hose, straps and, for battery models, a battery and motor.
Process
- Blow moulding or rotomoulding the tank.
- Injection moulding small parts.
- Assembly and leak testing.
Per unit
Report per sprayer by type and tank capacity. A battery sprayer carries a battery footprint a manual one does not.
Worked example: plant energy per unit (one month)
- Electricity: 40,000 kWh x 0.710 = 28,400 kg CO2
- Sprayers made: 20,000
- Plant total: 28,400 / 20,000 = 1.420 kg CO2 per unit
- Add plastics, pump parts and any battery 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
- Injection moulding footprint
- HDPE drum footprint
- Lead-acid battery 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 2026-10-21.