How we work this out
These figures are screening-level estimates, not a life-cycle assessment. They count two different things, and the line under each tile says so: packaging avoided at purchase, plus the first year of use for a reusable item.
We do not publish a carbon dioxide figure. A carbon number here would only restate the plastic weight with an extra assumption, so it stays in the workbook.
What a year means
A consumable, such as a bar, balm, or cleaner, contributes the plastic packaging it avoids once, at purchase. A reusable contributes its first year of use. That year is a projection, not a fact at checkout. Later years are not added to the number on the site.
The shop stores the working weight in grams and shows ounces or pounds. Under one pound the figure is ounces, to one decimal. From one pound up it is pounds, to one decimal. It is always written as plastic, for example “1.6 oz of plastic”, so it cannot be read as a fluid ounce.
Single-use items
On a product, in the cart, and on an order, each kind of item is named on its own. The homepage band adds those counts into one figure, Single-Use Items Replaced. Paper towels are in that count. They are not in the plastic weight, because a paper towel roll is paper.
Weight of the ordinary item
These are the weights in the scoring workbook. Where a source is missing, that item adds nothing to the plastic figure.
| Ordinary item | Plastic we count | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic drinking straw | 0.4 g | Peer-reviewed, PMC10888035 |
| Plastic grocery bag | 5.5 g | HDPE retail carry bag, Nolan-ITU / NEPC |
| Paper towel roll | None | Paper, not plastic. Counted as an item replaced only |
| Plastic wrap roll | 85 g | A 12 in × 100 ft roll. Derived from 9.29 m² of 10 micron film at 920 kg/m³ |
| Plastic bread bag | None yet | No weighed source yet, so it stays at 0 g and is counted as an item only |
| Plastic sandwich bag | None yet | No weighed source yet, so it stays at 0 g and is counted as an item only |
Packaging a consumable avoids
A plastic-free consumable is credited with the plastic in a typical pack of that kind, once. These are the workbook figures.
| Consumable | Typical plastic pack |
|---|---|
| Face cream / moisturizer | 25 g |
| Serum / face oil | 30 g |
| Body wash / shower gel | 55 g |
| Shampoo / conditioner | 45 g |
| Lotion / body cream | 40 g |
| Bar soap / solid | 10 g |
| Bath soak / salts | 50 g |
| Makeup / cosmetics | 20 g |
| Deodorant | 35 g |
| Supplement / vitamins | 25 g |
| Household cleaner | 60 g |
| Other consumable | 30 g |
If a product has not been scored, both figures are treated as zero. We do not guess, and we do not use a supplier’s own impact claim.