How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a paper plate?

Multiply the paperboard per plate, including trim waste, by the board mill's per-kg figure. Add press heating and electricity, then divide the unit's energy by plates packed and report by diameter and board GSM.

Material

• Paperboard by weight per plate, laminated or not.
• PE or other lamination film.
• Trim scrap sold to recyclers.

Process

• Die cutting.
• Heated hydraulic or pneumatic pressing.
• Counting and shrink packing.

Per piece

Report per plate with diameter and GSM. Board is most of the total, so the mill's figure matters most.

Worked example: paper plate unit per piece (one month)

• Electricity: 6,000 kWh x 0.710 = 4,260 kg CO2
• Plates packed: 2,000,000
• Plant total: 4,260 / 2,000,000 = 0.00213 kg CO2 per piece
• Add paperboard and lamination 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
• Paper cup footprint
• Areca leaf plate footprint
• Paper mill footprint
• Paper 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.