How Do Plastic Credits Work and How Can It Benefit Our Environment?

Plastic credits: what are they, and how can they offset your company’s plastic footprint to create sustainable, environmental-friendly practices?

Of the many detrimental threats to the ecosystem, plastic waste is one of the most despicable. It can take hundreds of years to decay and has a plethora of harmful effects on a global scale.

Luckily, there’s a new development known as plastic credits.

This substantial system promotes consumer/producer accountability and helps regulate balance in the corporate waste scene. While plastic credits are a relatively new concept, we believe they show great promise in reducing plastic pollution worldwide.

What are plastic credits?

Plastic credits are transferable economic credits that a company can buy to accommodate the waste it produces. Just one credit is equal to 1 ton of plastic that is recycled or collected which wouldn’t have been otherwise.

Since plastic is such an intricate part of production, there’s no getting rid of it completely. With plastic credits, businesses can turn to a greener path where the waste they create is offset by renewing plastics or collecting plastic waste that has been dumped into the environment.

Why purchase plastic credits?

Plastic credits are a statement of sustainability and responsibility. There are many reasons why your company would and should be obligated to purchase these credits.

It saves the ecosystem

Wildlife is struggling, ecosystems are dying, waters are becoming polluted, and the ozone is being ripped apart. Unsurprisingly, plastic waste is playing a pivotal role in all of this.

Since plastic is so cheap, it’s not financially worth the labor for businesses to repurpose and recycle it. As a result, it ends up getting dumped into the environment.

Plastic credits can help prevent a business’s unwanted plastics from reaching oceans, landfills, and dumps, allowing for a healthier ecosystem and a more sustainable production chain.

Plastic credits are a convenient solution to excess waste

Companies aren’t always able to handle the waste they produce, and plastic credits are a great way to solve this issue.

Any extra plastic waste a company has that cannot be reduced further can easily be offset by purchasing plastic credits.

Part of a larger plastic sustainability strategy

Plastic sustainability is a large-scale incentive beneficial to everyone on the planet. At first glance, it gives companies the opportunity to take responsibility and save the environment. It also helps keep a favorable brand image and creates a model for other businesses to follow.

Plastic credits are just one component of this strategy and an amazing first step to take. Reducing the amount of plastic waste produced will not only open the gate to greener pastures but will create a company that is built to last a long time.

How do plastic credits work?

Plastic credits are purchased by companies and represent the amount of plastic waste it is able to produce economically. If your plastic waste production equals the number of plastic credits your company has, it is known as plastic neutral.

A plastic-neutral company is positive for the environment and promotes a circulatory economic chain.

What happens when a plastic credit Is purchased?

Plastic credits are transferable, fungible credits and play a role similar to carbon credits.

When you purchase a plastic credit, efforts are diverted to communities and areas where plastic waste is most prominent, mainly in Asia, which has the highest plastic waste dumpage rate in the world.

These efforts involve collecting, recycling, and repurposing plastic waste to prevent it from reaching the ocean and other natural habitats.

Ultimately, the goal of plastic credits is to balance all the plastic that’s being thrown away into undesirable locations and provide more sustainable solutions.

The bottom line

Plastic credits are an innovative, new standard that can help you reduce your plastic waste and allows you to take responsibility for the harm you could potentially be doing to the environment.

It’s a scalable, impactful and measurable way your company can play its part in saving the planet, and we’re here to help.

We here at Second Life are the first plastic project to be certified under the new Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Standard and have already distributed the first plastic credits to the world.

It’s our mission to recover and recycle the vast amount of plastic emissions plaguing the planet, which will create a circulatory, sustainable business model for you and millions of other companies.

Learn more about our plastic recovery projects or get in touch with our team here.