We officially have a carbon footprint

Elissa Foster is our Head of Sustainability. (Say hi, Elissa! Everyone, say hi back!) She spends a lot of time deep in numbers and research and scary eco facts, all in the name of helping us become the most sustainable TP company we can possibly be.

Tracking our carbon footprint is a big part of that, and we know some of you have been wondering about those numbers yourselves. So we sat down with Elissa to get the lowdown.

First things first, what is a carbon footprint?

Basically, it’s the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) - like carbon dioxide and methane - that are generated by an individual, event, organisation, service, place or product, expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Individuals have carbon footprints, and so do corporations. Every business is super different, but the average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons per year - one of the highest in the world. Globally, the average carbon footprint is closer to 5 tons.

(Although, worth knowing: the idea of a personal carbon footprint came from a marketing campaign for a certain oil company in 2005. People were encouraged to calculate their personal footprints and given tips for going on a ‘low-carbon diet’, all in the name of shifting the blame of climate change from fossil fuel companies to consumers. Yuck.)

So should we take a carbon footprint seriously then? Sounds like it’s a bit of a dodgy idea.

We should, for sure! From a business perspective, a carbon footprint gives us a baseline understanding of how much carbon is produced as a result of our operations and growth. With this knowledge we can then investigate the parts of the business that generate the GHG emissions, and bring in solutions to cut them back.

Ok, well what do you know about Who Gives A Crap’s carbon footprint?

Glad you asked. We’ve been doing a lot of research, auditing of processes and calculations recently, and we officially have a third party-verified carbon footprint for Who Gives A Crap and its parent company, Good Goods. (This is verified in accordance with ISO 14064-3:2018, if anyone’s interested in the technicalities.)

*Note: this is our total carbon footprint and doesn’t account for the fact we offset our transportation GHG emissions, which make up about 20% of our total emissions. You can read more about that below!

To put that number into perspective, 70,605 MT CO2e is the equivalent of 15,213 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles being driven for one year.

Oof, that seems like a lot. How did you measure the carbon footprint?

We partnered with global impact consultancy Edge Environment to do a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on our products. The LCA included an analysis of the energy use and GHG emissions from all life cycle stages of our products, including manufacturing, transporting and usage. That resulted in a final figure, which we multiplied by the number of products we sold in FY2022. 

Where do the majority of your carbon emissions come from?

About 60% of our GHG emissions come from making the parent (or mother) rolls. (They’re huge reels of tissues - like, bigger than a human - that are transformed into our finished products, aka TP rolls that fit on your bathroom holder.) Another 10-20% of our emissions come from the production of our packaging, including the cardboard cores in the centre of the toilet paper and kitchen towels. The final 20% come from shipping and deliveries, from manufacturing locations to customers' doors. 

Now that you have all these numbers figured out, what are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?

We’ve been working hard to reduce our emissions!

Low carbon products: Providing sustainable, low carbon products to customers is one of our top priorities, which is why we only offer alternative fibre (recycled or bamboo) tissue products. We use recycled paper in a good portion of the items we make and sell - for context, our LCA determined that recycled toilet paper has a 22% lower carbon footprint than TP made from virgin trees. We’re also working to switch our kitchen towels and facial tissues from bamboo to recycled fibres. 

Carbon neutral shipping: Our shipping is 100% carbon neutral! We count the GHG emissions that come from transporting our products from the factory to our customers, then purchase high-quality, third party-verified carbon credits that match or offset those emissions. We started doing this in September 2020 and have committed to keeping this going so our shipping is always carbon neutral. You can read more about it here and here, if you like, see how much we have offset to date here!

Electric vehicles: We’re in the process of transitioning our Australian warehouse-to-customer product transportation to electric vehicles. This is a huge initiative and will take time to roll out, but we’re excited that two Who Gives A Crap branded EVs will be on the road very soon. Keep an eye out for them!

Renewable energy: We’ve worked with a few of our warehouse and manufacturing partners to use renewable energy in our supply chain. In fact, we helped our Australian warehouse add solar panels (in the shape of the word ‘CRAP!’) to their roof! It’s pretty thrilling that the sun is providing around 46% of the building’s energy now. And this is just our first step towards greener supply chain operations. 

Domestic manufactured products: In 2022 and 2023 we started making paper goods in the US and the UK (ie. they’re produced in the country where they’re sold). This has reduced carbon emissions from shipping, as well as from the manufacturing process, which is super exciting! As we grow, we'll keep looking for ways to make our products more sustainable and delightful for you and the planet.

So what does all this mean for the company as a whole? Will Who Gives A Crap become carbon neutral?

A business is carbon neutral when they’ve measured their carbon emissions, then reduced or offset an equal amount. Who Gives A Crap isn’t completely carbon neutral just yet. But that’s the goal! We’re currently working to reduce the emissions that come from manufacturing our products by increasing the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency in our supply chain. We’re also working to quantify our GHG emission reductions, and will keep this blog updated as we bring in new planet-friendly initiatives!