Plastic Footprint Calculator
Estimate your yearly plastic use from common items. Change the per day / week / month / half-year / year selectors—values auto-convert to keep your totals consistent.
🍽️ Food & Kitchen
🛁 Bathroom & Laundry
🥡 Disposable Containers
🧩 Other
Total plastic per year
0.000 kg
…also shown in
0.000 lb
Which is about 0 × 500 mL bottles, 0 grocery bags, or 0 straws.
🧮 Step-by-step derivation
Annualized items = input × timeframe factor (day×365, week×52, month×12, half-year×2, year×1).
Annual grams = Σ(annualized items × weight per item in grams). Total kg = grams ÷ 1000.
| Item | Items/yr | g each | Subtotal (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.000 | ||
⚡ Quick summary
FYI, Omni’s article mentions ~31 kg/yr for a typical European and ~84 kg/yr for a typical American (illustrative comparison only). :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
📚 Reference weights & sources
| Item | Model value | Notes & sources |
|---|---|---|
| PET bottle (500 mL) | 20 g | NIH/NEMS: 13.3–26 g per bottle; we use mid-range 20 g. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2} |
| Plastic grocery bag | 5.5 g | HDPE bags ~5–7 g; assumption 5.5 g. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3} |
| Food wrapper | 2 g | Flexible snack wraps vary; placeholder in low-single-gram range. (Adjustable.) |
| Yogurt cup (100–125 g) | 10 g | Manufacturer specs ~6–10 g; choose 10 g. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4} |
| Cotton swab (plastic stick) | 0.2 g | Catalog weight ≈(15 g sticks + 5.5–6.5 g cotton)/100 pcs. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5} |
| Detergent/cleaner bottle (~1 L HDPE) | 60 g | Product listings 60–70 g per 1 L bottle. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6} |
| Shampoo/cosmetic bottle (250 mL) | 25 g | Supplier spec 25 g bottle weight. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7} |
| Refill packet | 15 g | Often about 4× lighter than a rigid bottle (rule-of-thumb; adjustable). :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8} |
| Toothbrush | 20 g | Typical manual plastic brush ~18–20 g. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9} |
| Toothpaste tube + cap | 13 g | Measured tube+cap examples ~13 g; ranges wider. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10} |
| Take-away plastic box (clamshell) | 30 g | Specs ~25–52 g depending on size; mid-value used. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11} |
| Plastic cup (12 oz) | 12 g | Common PET 12 oz cups ~10–14 g (industry ranges). (Adjustable.) |
| Straw | 0.55 g | UK Defra impact assessment: plastic straw ≈0.55 g. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12} |
| Disposable cutlery (per piece) | 5 g | Mid-weight forks 2.5–7 g; mid value 5 g. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13} |
| Plastic plate (lightweight) | 15 g | Light plates ~12–18 g; heavy models much higher. :contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14} |
You can fine-tune any weight inside the JS WEIGHTS_G map.