How do I calculate the carbon footprint of thermoformed food containers?
Multiply the sheet used per kg of good containers, including skeleton waste, by your polymer's per-kg figure. Add sheet extrusion if done in house, the thermoformer's heaters, trimming and packing, then divide plant electricity by kg passed.
Materials
- PP, PET or PS sheet or resin by weight.
- Skeleton waste reground and fed back, which cuts virgin input.
- Lids, labels and sleeves.
Process
- Sheet extrusion line, if you make your own sheet.
- Thermoforming heaters and vacuum or pressure forming.
- Trimming, stacking and counting.
Per kg and per piece
Give per kg and per piece with piece weight, since buyers compare by piece.
Worked example: thermoforming plant per kg (one month)
- Electricity: 90,000 kWh x 0.710 = 63,900 kg CO2
- Kg of containers passed: 100,000
- Plant total: 63,900 / 100,000 = 0.639 kg CO2 per kg
- Add polymer sheet or resin 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.
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.