Transparency tool
You got rid of the paper. What did you put in its place?
The industry's environmental story runs one way: "so many kilos of paper saved a year". The untold half is that what replaces the paper is electronics, and at end of life it becomes electronic waste. This page calculates both masses and refuses to decide which is better.
A kilogram of electronic waste and a kilogram of paper are not environmentally equivalent: their recycling chains, material content and disposal routes differ completely. We publish mass because we can verify it. The figures below are not a comparison but two separate quantities.
Your own figures
Scope
Your paper label
Plain copier paper is around 80, light card around 250.
Your electronic label
The default is the median of 55 catalogue products: 45 g.
Paper
— per year- —
- —
- Prints per label per year
- —
Electronics
— installed mass- Labels renewed within the horizon
- —
- Batteries replaced
- —
Break-even point
—
This is a MASS balance only. Paper is consumed continuously and keeps accumulating; electronics is a one-off mass that stays constant through its life. This page does not decide which side does less harm.
Accumulation year by year
Why is there no carbon (CO₂e) figure?
Because we have no source we can verify. A carbon footprint requires a life-cycle assessment: raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, use and disposal. Most "ESL saves X% carbon" claims in circulation come from a manufacturer's own publication with an undisclosed method. Publishing an unsourced number would defeat this site's purpose. The line is deliberately blank — blank beats invented.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Paper mass follows from the label size and paper weight you enter: area × grammage × number of prints. A physical multiplication, not a claim. Since you enter your own paper's dimensions, the result belongs to your paper.
- Electronics mass rests on real weight data from the catalogue: recorded and sourced for all 55 products. The default is their median; if you know your own model's weight, enter it.
- Packaging, transport, access points and installation hardware are NOT included. Their weight varies by installation and is not in the catalogue; rather than estimate, we left them out. The electronics side is therefore somewhat heavier in reality than shown.
Questions for the supplier
- Do you take back end-of-life labels? Is take-back written into the contract?
- Is the battery replaceable? If not, the whole estate becomes waste at end of life.
- Under which waste category will the labels be disposed of, and who bears that cost?
- Do you have a published life-cycle assessment? If so, what is its method and independent verification?