How we calculated our carbon saving
Full disclosure, we're a startup. So that means we don't have the tens of thousands of free cash needed for LCAs. Yet.
But some of us here are scientists so we did some research and put it all together into a spreadsheet and then we gave that to the ones here who are much better at maths and we landed on something pretty robust.
The claim
~75% less carbon per drink than a 350ml plastic soda bottle.
The comparison
We compare one Incrediballs drink (ten balls dissolved in water) against one commercially produced 350ml soft drink in a plastic bottle - the most common single-serve drink option in supermarkets.
The baseline: A 350ml plastic soda bottle
Published lifecycle assessment (LCA) data places the carbon footprint of a 500ml PET plastic water bottle at approximately 83g CO₂e (BIER industry study). A 350ml soft drink is slightly smaller in volume but is more carbon-intensive due to carbonation, flavouring, and sugar processing. Using a conservative midpoint from published LCA literature, we use 120g CO₂e as our baseline per bottle. This accounts for:
- PET plastic manufacture
- Product manufacturing and filling
- Distribution and retail
- End of life
Incrediballs: per drink carbon footprint
One Incrediballs drink (ten balls plus their share of packaging) weighs approximately 10g.
| Component | Calculation | Estimated CO₂e |
|---|---|---|
| Cardboard packaging (~8g) | 8g × ~1kg CO₂e per kg cardboard | ~8g |
| 10 balls / ingredients (~2g) | 2g × ~3kg CO₂e per kg | ~6g |
| UK manufacturing | Estimated | ~5g |
| Seafreight UK→NZ (~18,000km) | Per-unit share of pallet (5,000 units) at 0.016kg CO₂e per tonne-km | ~3g |
| Total | ~30g CO₂e |
The Result
(120g − 30g) ÷ 120g = ~75% less carbon per drink
Depending on assumptions, the realistic range is 70–80% less carbon.
Sources
- BIER (Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable) Life Cycle Assessment of Packaging for Beverages.
- IPCC / DEFRA - Used for both seafreight emissions (container ship: ~0.016kg CO₂e per tonne-km) and cardboard packaging (virgin cardboard: 801kg CO₂e per tonne; recycled cardboard: 700kg CO₂e per tonne).
- University of Surrey/SWEET Project - Suckling, J., Morse, S., Murphy, R. et al. Environmental life cycle assessment of production of the high intensity sweetener steviol glycosides from Stevia rebaudiana leaf grown in Europe: The SWEET project. Int J Life Cycle Assess 28, 221–233 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02127-9
- Wall Street Journal - Coca-Cola's own published data reports 346g CO₂e per litre, equivalent to 121g CO₂e per 350ml.
Important Limitations
We want to be transparent about the assumptions behind this figure:
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The soda bottle baseline varies. Published figures for a 350ml soda bottle range from approximately 100-200g CO₂e depending on the study, brand, and geography. We use 120g to be conservative.
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This is an internal estimate, not a certified LCA. We have not yet commissioned a formal third-party lifecycle assessment. We intend to do so and will update this figure accordingly. Until then, the ~75% figure should be understood as a well-reasoned estimate based on published data, not a certified result.
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Ingredient carbon is estimated. Given the very small combined mass of ten balls per drink (~2g), this is unlikely to materially affect the headline figure even if our estimate is off.
Last updated: February 2026. Incrediballs is committed to transparency and will update this methodology as our business scales and more precise data becomes available.