How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a pillow?

Add the fill and the cover per pillow with supplier figures: polyester fibre, foam or cotton fill, and the cover fabric. Then add carding, filling, stitching and packing energy, divided by pillows packed.

Materials

• Polyester fibre, microfibre, foam or cotton fill by weight.
• Cover fabric and piping.
• Poly bags and cartons.

Process

• Fibre opening and carding.
• Filling machines and stitching.
• Vacuum or roll packing.

Per piece

Report per pillow with fill weight and type. Recycled polyester fill carries a different figure from virgin fibre.

Worked example: pillow unit per piece (one month)

• Electricity: 10,000 kWh x 0.710 = 7,100 kg CO2
• Pillows packed: 50,000
• Plant total: 7,100 / 50,000 = 0.142 kg CO2 per piece
• Add fill and cover fabric 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
• Foam mattress footprint
• Recycled polyester yarn footprint
• Cushion cover 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.