How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a stainless steel kitchen sink?
Weigh the stainless steel coil used per sink, including blanking scrap, and multiply by the steel supplier's per-kg figure. Add deep drawing, welding, polishing and packing energy, then divide by sinks passed.
Material
- Stainless steel sheet by grade and weight.
- Sound pads and coating on the underside.
- Blanking scrap sold back.
Process
- Hydraulic deep drawing presses.
- Trimming, welding and polishing.
- Cartons and protective film.
Per piece
Report per sink by bowl size and grade. Stainless steel is most of the total, so the mill's figure matters most.
Worked example: stainless steel kitchen sink unit per piece (one month)
- Electricity: 20,000 kWh x 0.710 = 14,200 kg CO2
- Sinks passed: 10,000
- Plant total: 14,200 / 10,000 = 1.420 kg CO2 per piece
- Add stainless steel 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
- Stainless steel utensils footprint
- Sheet metal stamping footprint
- Steel 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.