0.188 vs 3.9 vs 5.9: The CO₂ Story of Paper, Pee Pads and Plastic Trays

Three products, one ward job, very different footprints

A litter tray, a pee pad and a rigid plastic tray can all do the same job in a ward for a day. What they carry into the clinic before they arrive — and what they leave behind when they go — is completely different. Our modelled comparison puts the CO₂ released per kilogram of product at 0.188 kg for the VOLKOS paper tray, 3.9 kg for a clinic pee pad and 5.9 kg for a plastic tray.

That is a 20-fold gap between the paper tray and the pee pad, and more than 30-fold against the plastic tray, on the same modelled basis. The reasons are structural, not incremental — they come from what each product is made of.

Why multi-component products carry more carbon

A clinic pee pad is not one material; it is five or more bonded together — a plastic film backing, absorbent fluff, super-absorbent polymer, adhesives and a non-woven top layer. Each layer is manufactured separately, often from fossil-derived feedstock, then combined with more energy. The product's footprint is the sum of all of those processes, and at end of life the bonded construction means none of it can be recovered: it goes to landfill or incineration as a composite.

A rigid plastic tray is simpler — one polymer — but that polymer is fossil-derived, energy-intensive to mould, and persists for 500 years or more after its short working life. And the plastic tray's true footprint does not stop at manufacture: reusable trays consume 50–960 litres of water for cleaning over their life, plus detergents and disinfectants, plus the energy to heat the water and run the washing equipment.

Why paper fibre sits so low

VOLKOS products are pressed from 100% recycled paper fibre. The fibre's carbon is biogenic — drawn from the atmosphere by plants, cycling back on a short timescale rather than adding new fossil carbon. Using recycled fibre avoids the energy and emissions of virgin pulp production. There are no additional materials to manufacture, bond or separate.

At end of life the loop is equally short: clean products biodegrade in soil in 90–180 days, and clinical waste can be incinerated with energy recovery — releasing the same biogenic carbon the plant captured, not fossil carbon locked underground for millions of years.

The hidden carbon of 'reusable'

Reprocessing is rarely counted in a tray's footprint, but it is real: hot water, detergent, disinfectant, staff time, machine energy, and the repeat transport of chemicals to the practice. A single-use paper tray carries none of this. The 0.188 kg figure is the whole story — manufacture, use and disposal — with no washing chapter attached.

Using the numbers responsibly

These figures are modelled estimates on a like-for-like per-kilogram basis. They are suitable for understanding the order of magnitude of the difference between single-material paper products and multi-component or plastic alternatives, and for internal sustainability discussions.

They are not yet a certified third-party LCA, and we say so wherever we use them: Source: VOLKOS LCA Report, June 2026. Not yet third-party critically reviewed — independent verification recommended before external ESG or procurement use. Certification claims — FSC, PFAS free, FDA food-contact compliant, RoHS, halogen free, TPCH, PCR — are documented separately and can be supplied for audit files.

The comparison in one table

• CO₂ per 1 kg of product — VOLKOS tray 0.188 kg · clinic pee pad 3.9 kg · plastic tray 5.9 kg (modelled).
• Time to biodegrade — VOLKOS tray 90–180 days · pee pad 500+ years (plastic fraction) · plastic tray 500+ years.
• Water used for cleaning — VOLKOS tray 0 litres · plastic tray 50–960 litres over its working life.
• Material recovery at end of life — VOLKOS tray compostable, single material · pee pad landfill only · plastic tray rarely recycled.