# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a paper plate?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-plate-carbon-footprint-per-piece

Multiply the paperboard per plate, including trim waste, by the board mill's per-kg figure. Add press heating and electricity, then divide the unit's energy by plates packed and report by diameter and board GSM.

## Material

- Paperboard by weight per plate, laminated or not.
- PE or other lamination film.
- Trim scrap sold to recyclers.

## Process

- Die cutting.
- Heated hydraulic or pneumatic pressing.
- Counting and shrink packing.

## Per piece

Report per plate with diameter and GSM. Board is most of the total, so the mill's figure matters most.

## Worked example: paper plate unit per piece (one month)

- Electricity: 6,000 kWh x 0.710 = 4,260 kg CO2
- Plates packed: 2,000,000
- Plant total: 4,260 / 2,000,000 = 0.00213 kg CO2 per piece
- Add paperboard and lamination 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](https://senseible.earth/calculators/product-carbon-footprint)
- [Paper cup footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-cup-carbon-footprint-per-cup)
- [Areca leaf plate footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/areca-leaf-plate-carbon-footprint-per-plate)
- [Paper mill footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-mill-carbon-footprint-per-tonne)
- [Paper industry](https://senseible.earth/industries/paper)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Product Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/standards), [ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org)](https://www.iso.org), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-20.