Guide to the Effects of Plastic Pollution in the Ocean
January 3, 2023What is the Process of Using Plastic Credits?
DATE: Jan 2023
AUTHOR: Mandla Tshabalala
What is the Process of Using Plastic Credits?
Plastic Credits are a mechanism that encourages the removal of plastic from the environment as well as the recycling of plastic into new products and packaging.
Plastic credits are dominated by two major players. Companies that use plastic in their products and packaging are one example. The other category includes projects that collect and recycle plastic from the environment.
These two parties collaborate as follows. A corporation wishes to accept responsibility for the plastic it releases into the environment by removing a comparable amount of plastic from the environment. They decide that using plastic credits is the best option
The first step is for the company to calculate their Plastic Footprint, which is how much plastic they put into the environment each year. The company then purchases a quantity of plastic credits equal to their plastic footprint, i.e. one plastic credit equals one tone of plastic footprint. So, if a company has a 10,000 kg plastic footprint, they buy 10,000 plastic credits.
The money paid by the company for the plastic credits is allocated to a project. In exchange for receiving this funding, the project is required to collect and/or recycle a volume of plastic equal to the company's plastic footprint in kilograms.
Benefits are created for both parties as a result of the transaction between a company and a project. For the company, they can claim that they have accepted responsibility for the plastic they have released into the environment, i.e. Company X is now Plastic Neutral (see other claims). They are able to source funding for the project in order to support the collection and recycling of plastic in a sustainable manner, which would not have been possible otherwise.
Are plastic credits comparable to carbon credits?
Yes, they are very similar because the plastic credit system evolved from the carbon credit systems that have been used for the last 20 years and generated 212 billion dollars in funding for carbon reduction programs around the world last year.
In fact, the Verra.org secretariat was in charge of developing and maintaining the Verified Carbon System, which is now one of the world's most widely used carbon credit systems.
Are plastic credits simply encouraging the collection of plastic from the environment?
No: The preceding examples discuss the collection of plastic from the environment (to simplify the initial conversation), but plastic credits differ from carbon credits in that there are two types of plastic credits, whereas carbon credits only have one.
The first credit is a collection credit, which is created when plastic is removed from the environment and is guaranteed not to return. The second credit is a recycling credit, which is created when a plastic is recycled and is certain to displace virgin plastic production.
A single piece of plastic, if collected and recycled, has the potential to generate two credits.