What is consumables matching?
Consumables are materials that are used up during the operation of your products or at your facilities — things like ink cartridges, replacement filters, cleaning agents, or fuel. Each consumable has two types of environmental impact: the impact of producing it (direct impact) and the impact of disposing of it at end of life (EOL impact).
To calculate these impacts, each consumable in Root needs to be linked to two impact datasets — one for the direct/production phase and one for end-of-life. This is what we call consumables matching.
Where consumables are used
Consumables appear in two places in Root:
Product usage phase — Consumables that are used up during the lifetime of a product. For example, a printer uses ink cartridges, or a coffee machine uses paper filters. The impact is calculated per product unit sold.
Facility operations — Consumables used at your facilities as part of day-to-day operations. For example, cleaning chemicals or machine lubricants. The impact is calculated based on the total amount consumed at the facility over a given period.
In both cases, the same consumable definition is reused — you define it once at the company level, and it can be referenced by any product or facility.
How to match your consumables
Step 1: Create or upload your consumables
Consumables are created either through a data upload or manually in the platform. Each consumable starts with just a name and no impact data.
Step 2: Review your consumables
Go to the Consumables section. Each consumable shows its current status:
Complete — Both the direct and EOL impact datasets are assigned, and all unit conversions are in place.
Incomplete — One or both datasets are missing, or a required unit conversion is missing.
Step 3: Assign both impact datasets
For each consumable, you need to select two datasets:
Direct impact dataset — Represents the environmental footprint of producing the consumable (e.g. manufacturing a filter cartridge).
End-of-life (EOL) impact dataset — Represents the environmental footprint of disposing of the consumable after use (e.g. landfill, recycling, incineration).
Both datasets must be assigned for the consumable to be considered complete. If only one is set, the consumable remains incomplete and is excluded from calculations.
Step 4: Set unit conversions (if needed)
If the unit used at your facilities or in your product definitions (e.g. "pieces" or "liters") differs from the dataset's unit (e.g. "kg"), you'll need to provide a conversion factor.
Common conversions (like grams to kilograms) are handled automatically. You only need to provide a factor when Root can't convert between the units on its own.
Each dataset may need its own conversion factor — the direct and EOL datasets might use different units.
How impact is calculated
For product consumables:
Impact = (direct dataset impact + EOL dataset impact) x quantity per product x number of products sold x conversion factor
For facility consumables:
Impact = (direct dataset impact + EOL dataset impact) x quantity consumed x conversion factor
For facility consumables, the impact is distributed evenly across the months of the utility contract period.
If the facility data is marked as "estimate" rather than "actual," the quantity is scaled by the facility's total product mass.
Deleting consumables
A consumable can only be deleted if it is not referenced by any product or facility. If it is in use, you'll need to remove those references first.
Tips
Both datasets are required. Unlike other matching sections, consumables need two matches (direct and EOL) to be complete. Make sure to assign both.
Focus on high-usage consumables first. Consumables used across many products or facilities will have the largest effect on your results.
Check your units. Each dataset might use a different unit, so you may need to set up two separate conversion factors for the same consumable.
Use the year filter to focus your work. Filter by reporting year to see only consumables relevant to a specific period.