Carbon footprint of mechanically recycled cotton
Our calculator counts 0.38 kg CO₂e for every kilogram of mechanically recycled cotton in a product made in India. Below is where that figure comes from, how sure we are of it, and what it adds up to in finished products: 485 products in our catalogue, from 48 brands, contain mechanically recycled cotton.
Where the figure comes from
The factor is Recycled cotton fibre, mechanical, post-consumer, for GLO. Source: Wendin M. / Miljögiraff (2016). LCA of recycling cotton - Life Cycle Assessment of recycling cotton (mechanically). Report number 75, Miljögiraff, Gothenburg, for H&M. Public report hosted by ESU-services. Section 4.4.2, Table 10; Abstract , data year 2016.
Status: Primary source. Read from the publisher's own document.
An emission factor is the greenhouse gas emitted per unit of something, here per kilogram of material up to the point it is ready to be made into a product. Read emission factors explained, or see every factor and source in our methodology.
From material to product
A kilogram of mechanically recycled cotton is only the start. Making it into yarn, fabric, a sheet or a part, dyeing or finishing it, making the product, and packing and moving it all add emissions. So does the use and disposal of the product, for a whole-life figure.
That is why products with the same material can have quite different footprints: the weight, the factory's energy and the processes matter as much as the material itself.
Products made only of mechanically recycled cotton
Median whole-life footprint per item of catalogue products whose only listed material is mechanically recycled cotton, by kind of product. Compare within a row, not across rows: different products do different jobs.
Screening estimates from product listings with the ISO 14067 method and cited emission factors, not measurements of a particular factory.
Use your own data
If your mill or supplier can give you a footprint for the mechanically recycled cotton you buy, use it: it describes your material rather than a typical one, and raises your primary data share. Then footprint your product with your own data, or start from a product link.
Questions
What is the carbon footprint of mechanically recycled cotton per kg?
Our calculator uses 0.38 kg CO₂e per kg of mechanically recycled cotton for products made in India, taken from Wendin M. / Miljögiraff (2016). LCA of recycling cotton - Life Cycle Assessment of recycling cotton (mechanically). Report number 75, Miljögiraff, Gothenburg, for H&M. Public report hosted by ESU-services. Section 4.4.2, Table 10; Abstract (data year 2016). Other studies give other values, because farming or production methods, energy and system boundaries differ.
Does the material's footprint equal the product's footprint?
No. The material is one part. Spinning, weaving or forming, dyeing, making the product, packaging, transport, use and disposal are added on top, and offcuts mean more material is bought than ends up in the product.
What is the footprint of a product made only of mechanically recycled cotton?
In our catalogue, the median t-shirt made only of mechanically recycled cotton comes to 3.97 kg CO₂e per item over its whole life, across 40 products. These are screening estimates from product listings.
How reliable is this emission factor?
Its status in our library is “Primary source”: Read from the publisher's own document. A supplier's own data for the material, such as a mill's footprint, replaces it when available.