♻️ Plastic Footprint Calculator
Estimate how much single-use plastic your household goes through each year and the CO2 impact tied to producing it.
What this calculator does
This tool gives a rough estimate of how much single-use plastic your household consumes over a year — from bottles and cups to packaging like wrappers, trays, and film — and the carbon emissions tied to manufacturing that plastic.
How the estimate is calculated
The calculator assumes an average plastic bottle or cup weighs about 25 grams and an average packaging item (wrapper, tray, film piece) weighs about 12 grams, scaled by your weekly counts and household size. Producing plastic from petrochemical feedstock emits roughly 3.4 kg of CO2-equivalent per kilogram of plastic, a commonly cited average across resin types, so the yearly weight is converted into a carbon estimate using that factor.
The calculator also splits your annual total between the share you report recycling and the remainder, which typically ends up in landfill, incinerated, or as environmental litter, to give a sense of how recycling habits shift the picture.
- These are general planning estimates using average item weights and industry emission factors, not a measurement of your actual waste.
- Real footprints vary widely by plastic type (PET, HDPE, PP, etc.), local recycling infrastructure, and product packaging design.