CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a standardized unit used to measure environmental impact. During every step of a product's lifecycle, activities like item production, shipping, and upkeep emit greenhouse gases. Because there are may different types of greenhouse gases that affect global warming, we can compare each type of gas by converting them into a carbon dioxide equivalent. In other words, we determine how much carbon dioxide would create the same environmental impact.

The carbon footprint of an item represents the greenhouse gas emissions that are associated with producing that item. The measurement includes activities like extracting the raw materials, assembling the final product, and finally getting it to the customer. All new items have to go through each of these steps, and we refer to this impact as thenew item carbon footprint.

We thoroughly inspect all of the items that arrive at our warehouse and assign them one of our standardized condition grades. Our condition grades reflect how much wear and tear an item has been through. We factor in characteristics that could shorten the lifespan of each product such as fading, discoloration, or holes. We've mapped each of our condition grades to an approximate amount of usable life left and estimate that most of the time items still have about 80-95% of life left when we resell them. We call this percentage the item condition factor.

After we inspect an item, we clean and repair it as needed. We then store the item in our warehouse until it's ready to be shipped to its new home. All of these activities have their own environmental impacts. We rely on a variety of resources, for example, power to run our warehouse, fossil fuels to transport items in trucks, and natural gas to heat our working areas. We include these environmental costs to put an item back into use in theresale processing footprint.

Does buying something used really replace the purchase of something new? The answer: it depends! Displacement refers to the idea that a purchase of a used item will replace a purchase of a new item. According to current industry data, in reality, a used purchase only replaces a new purchase 60% of the time. This 60% is the displacement factor. The other 40% of the time, a consumer buys both a used item and a new item.

We recognize that not all consumers fit into the average displacement category. If we factor in a specific customer's displacement factor, the percentage of savings would change.

We also recognize that some product categories are more or less likely to displace a new purchase. For example, a used tent is more likely to displace a new tent compared to a used shirt displacing a new shirt. We are committed to building rigor into your data as more research is published on this topic.