How do I calculate the carbon footprint of tissue paper and napkins?
For a converter, multiply the parent reels by the mill's per-kg figure and add embossing, folding, cutting and packing electricity per kg passed. A tissue mill adds its pulping, Yankee dryer steam and electricity. Drying is usually the largest energy use.
Mill
- Pulp or recovered paper by weight.
- Yankee dryer and hood: steam and gas.
- Pulpers, refiners and vacuum pumps on electricity.
Converting
- Parent reels, including trim waste.
- Embossing, folding, log saw and wrapping.
- Poly wraps, cores and cartons.
Per kg
Report per kg of saleable tissue, and per pack with grammage and ply count.
Worked example: napkin converter per kg (one month)
- Electricity: 30,000 kWh x 0.710 = 21,300 kg CO2
- Kg of tissue packed: 200,000
- Plant total: 21,300 / 200,000 = 0.106 kg CO2 per kg
- Add the parent reels from the mill 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.