How we calculate this
1. What we compare with. Not a plastic stick, but the deodorant people actually buy: about 47% aerosol (aluminium + propellant) and 53% stick or roll-on (plastic). One refill replaces one conventional deodorant.
2. The aerosol. An empty can weighs 50 g — weighed by us. Making aluminium costs ~3.6 kg CO₂ per kg: 0.05 x 3.6 = 0.18 kg. The propellant (32.5 g per can) burns into 0.10 kg. Together 0.28 kg.
3. The stick. Making a plastic stick costs about 0.065 kg CO₂.
4. Weighted average. 0.47 x 0.28 + 0.53 x 0.065 = 0.165 kg per refill. Rounded: 170,00 g.
Source
Aluminium: 3.6 kg CO₂ per kg. New European aluminium costs 6.6 kg per kg, but cans hold at least half recycled material. So we use a blended 3.6 — deliberately on the low side.
European Aluminium on the footprint of aluminium
Propellant: 32.5 g per can. Peer-reviewed research calculated 1.3 million tonnes of propellant a year across ~40 billion cans. Burning butane gives about three times its own weight in CO₂: 32.5 g becomes ~0.10 kg.
NCAS: aerosols overtake cars as a source of smog
Stick: 0.065 kg CO₂. Making a plastic stick costs 50 to 80 g CO₂; we count 65 g.
Refillable deodorants and plastic waste
The 47/53 split. In Europe about half of deodorant sales are aerosols. We use 47%, deliberately on the low side: a higher share would make our figures bigger. Estimate: this market share comes from a paid market report (Mordor Intelligence, 45.62% aerosol in 2025); we cannot attach a freely accessible link to it. As soon as we have a public source, we will name it here.
Why this matters
CO₂ is invisible, which is exactly why it is so easy to ignore. So make it visible: the 170,00 g of CO₂ you avoid with this product is roughly 2 km you did not drive.
This comparison is only here to make the number tangible. It is an illustration, not hard science.
By choosing an IMPACT product you avoid all of this. That does society, today and tomorrow, an enormous service and makes a big positive difference to the future of us all.
