PCR carbon footprint calculator.
See what your order avoids versus virgin plastic. CO₂, energy, water, calculated against peer-reviewed cradle-to-gate factors.
≈ 28 g per bottle
Like 2 trees absorbing CO₂ for a year
Powers a US home for 14 days
20 eight-minute showers
Calculations draw on cradle-to-gate emission factors from Plastics Europe Eco-profiles (2021) and the NAPCOR / Franklin Associates Life Cycle Assessment (2022). Real-world equivalents come from the US EPA greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator. Actual impact varies by manufacturing process, transport distance, and end-of-life treatment.
About this calculator
Post-consumer recycled (PCR) PET cuts greenhouse gas, energy, and water demand far below virgin resin. Virgin PET production averages 2.15 kg of CO₂e per kilogram of resin. Recycled PET sits closer to 0.45 kg. That gap multiplies across every bottle in your order.
The factors come from Plastics Europe Eco-profiles (2021) and the NAPCOR / Franklin Associates Life Cycle Assessment (2022). Both are cradle-to-gate. They cover raw material extraction through resin manufacturing, then stop before bottling, distribution, and end-of-life. Real-world equivalents (miles not driven, eight-minute showers, mature trees absorbing CO₂ for a year) come from the US EPA greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator and EPA WaterSense.
The calculator stays conservative. Bottle weights are estimates by size; your actual packaging may be lighter, which raises the per-unit savings. Transportation, filling, and end-of-life recycling extend the gap further once a complete life cycle is modeled. This tool exists for honest cradle-to-gate comparison, not marketing math.