How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a steel water bottle?
Weigh each bottle and multiply by the stainless steel supplier's figure, then add the cap. Add deep drawing, welding, polishing and printing energy, then divide the plant's energy by bottles made.
Material
- Stainless steel sheet or tube.
- PP cap and silicone seal.
- Printing or powder coating.
Process
- Deep drawing or tube forming.
- Welding and polishing.
- Printing or coating and packing.
Per bottle
Report per bottle by capacity and weight. Stainless steel is usually most of the figure.
Worked example: plant energy per bottle (one month)
- Electricity: 40,000 kWh x 0.710 = 28,400 kg CO2
- Bottles made: 60,000
- Plant total: 28,400 / 60,000 = 0.473 kg CO2 per bottle
- Add stainless steel and cap 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
- Vacuum flask 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 2026-10-21.