ZEO® Box carbon footprint

Wal Mart/ClearCarbon Tech

Project Key Findings

ClearCarbon has conducted a simplified carbon footprint product analysis on the ZEO® Box corrugate box to understand the reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with box light-weighting. Using a 2009 as a baseline timeframe, CO2e emission savings were calculated based on utilizing less corrugate material in the design of a 48” x 47.5” x 30.5” box. Annual box specifications, raw materials, processing energy and supplier locations were provided by YFY Paper Corp (ZEO® cardboard maker) in Nanjing, China and standard industry data in Ecoinvent 2.1 were used to model the ZEO® Box and an equivalent average box of the same dimensions. A summary of the results follows. 

Overall, the ZEO® Box compared to the average cardboard box saves 185 tons of CO2e per year. This is based on 2009 results received and replacing 526,000 boxes with ZEO® Boxes. The carbon footprint analysis considered the relevant “life cycle” phases of the box, including:

• Raw material,

• Raw material transportation,

• Manufacturing of the box, and

• Distribution of the box.

Figure 1. Comparison of 1 ZEO® Box to 1 Average Corrugate Box by Life Cycle Phase

Figure 2. Comparison of 526,000 ZEO® Boxes to 526,000 Average Corrugate Boxes

 * numbers reproduced based on ClearCarbon index for CJCHT orders of 2009.

The raw material and manufacturing life cycle phases contribute the majority of carbon savings for the ZEO® Box when comparing to the Average box. 

For more information about this calculation, please contact: Anna Nicholson, ClearCarbon (anicholson@clearcarboninc.com).