# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of thermoformed food containers?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/thermoformed-container-carbon-footprint-per-kg

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.

- [Product carbon footprint calculator](https://senseible.earth/calculators/product-carbon-footprint)
- [PET preform and bottle footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/pet-preform-bottle-carbon-footprint)
- [Paper cup footprint per cup](https://senseible.earth/answers/paper-cup-carbon-footprint-per-cup)

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.