# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of plastic buttons per 1,000?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/plastic-button-carbon-footprint-per-1000

Weigh the polyester resin or other plastic per thousand buttons and multiply by the supplier's figure. Add casting or moulding, curing, cutting and polishing energy, then divide the unit's energy by thousands of buttons made.

## Materials

- Polyester resin, ABS or nylon by weight.
- Pigments and catalyst.
- Packing bags.

## Process

- Sheet or rod casting, or injection moulding.
- Blank cutting, turning and drilling.
- Polishing and sorting.

## Per 1,000

Report per thousand buttons by line size, since buttons are traded by the gross or thousand.

## Worked example: plastic button unit per 1,000 buttons (one month)

- Electricity: 8,000 kWh x 0.710 = 5,680 kg CO2
- Buttons made (thousands): 20,000
- Plant total: 5,680 / 20,000 = 0.284 kg CO2 per 1,000 buttons
- Add resin 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](https://senseible.earth/calculators/product-carbon-footprint)
- [Woven shirt footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/woven-shirt-carbon-footprint-per-piece)
- [Injection moulding footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/injection-moulding-carbon-footprint-per-kg)
- [Textile industry](https://senseible.earth/industries/textile)

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.