PCX Solutions updates plastic crediting standard to provide more social, environmental benefits
PCX Solutions has launched Version 8 of the Plastic Pollution Reduction Standard (PPRS) as part of continued efforts to increase the level of credible and verified impact delivered by plastic pollution cleanup projects globally.
The world has produced about 9 billion metric tons of plastic since the 1950s. Only nine percent of plastic waste is recycled, 19 percent incinerated, and 72 percent landfilled, dumped, openly burned, or dumped in the environment, with detrimental effects on the ecosystems and human populations. Even if the production of plastic from today's levels is reduced by 40 percent by 2050, the world would still produce another 11 billion tons that need to be responsibly managed.
PCX Solutions provides an audited, transparent, verifiable system of collecting, transporting, and processing plastic waste to prevent leakage into the environment. PCX Solutions translates the weight of post-consumer plastics waste into the equivalent plastic credits, which individuals or companies can buy to support cleanup and to take responsibility for plastic waste, both in voluntary and compliance markets.
PCX Solutions works with 29 projects in seven markets globally, which have a potential capacity of 250,000 metric tons of cleanup. Projects registered under PPRS have already diverted 87,842 metric tons of plastic waste from nature.
The objective of the PPRS is to provide a framework to implement a credible and verifiable plastic crediting program. Plastic credits assign a value to all kinds of plastic waste, including ‘low value' plastics that are typically not collected. They are also an important funding mechanism based on the ‘polluter pays principle', which is critical in markets that lack collection and recycling infrastructure.
"Plastic credits provide much-needed financing for waste management and create incentives for reduction and long-term circular solutions in the plastics value chain," said Stefanie Beitien, managing director of PCX Solutions. "Plastic credits are gaining momentum at the global Plastic Treaty negotiations. It's critical they follow rigorous standards to provide transparency and guarantee impact."
The plastic credit sector is evolving quickly, and PCX Solutions aligns with organizations, auditing firms, and industry working groups to improve the level of PPRS. Version 8 of PPRS strengthens the standard by aligning key technical terms with updated global definitions; providing better guidance on how projects can prove additionality; increasing the focus on social benefits while tightening safeguards; and elaborating on project registration and impact verification process.
The world dumps 2,000 truckloads of plastic into oceans, rivers, and lakes each day, according to the UN, which also estimates we need $1.64 trillion to solve plastic pollution by 2040.
"Holistic solution sets, which include both upstream and downstream measures, are needed to address the plastic pollution crisis. Plastic credits are one of the tools that we can use to mobilize funds quickly and change the unit economics of using plastic in the long run," said Nanette Medved-Po, founder and executive chair of PCX Solutions.
