Lifting the gaze for a broader perspective.
Malin discusses the importance of plastic crediting standards and the role it plays in the bigger picture with the Plastics Lead of Verra, Maggie Lee. The talk is framed around these questions:
Q1: In the broader perspective, why are plastic crediting standards of importance? (01:18)
Q2: Looking at systems change and the leakage of plastics, what can a business do? (03:20)
Q3: How does a business account for the plastics used? (04:30)
Q4: How could that help to reach a net plastic circularity? (05:28)
Q5: How does the purchasing of credits help in the bigger picture? (05:52)
Q6: What makes a project eligible? (06:22)
Q7: Do you have any examples of the application of EPR schemes and plastic crediting? (07:45)
Q8: How is plastic crediting connected to the polluters pays concept? (09:07)
LINKS
Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Program
Podcast episode "Plastics loop"
Credits
Artwork: Giancarlo Mitidieri
Jingle: Frans Sjöberg
Malin:
This is the podcast where we are following the progress of transforming the market on plastic products and packaging in Sweden, ultimately moving away from taking, making and wasting, to a circular plastics economy.
Malin:
I'm Malin Leth and I'm the host. And today we'll explore plastic crediting even further. If you want to hear an introduction to plastic crediting and the basics of net circularity, my tip for you is to also listen to the episode Plastics Loop.
Malin:
In this episode I'm talking to Maggie Lee, lead of the plastic waste reduction program at Verra, about the importance of plastic crediting standards and the role these standards play in the bigger picture.
Malin:
So I'm thinking about the broader perspective of plastic crediting standards. How are they of importance?
Maggie:
It's because that these standards actually provide some sort of social safeguard to those people who are actually relying on waste picking, as their livelihoods depend on it. So there are quite a lot of waste pickers or scavengers globally, especially in the Global South. And these geographies coincide with the plastic pandemic and also marine litter problems.
Maggie:
And so we understand that there are a lot of informal sector workers, such as these waste pickers, that depend on waste picking. And therefore we have set aside societal safeguards. Meaning that if employment is offset by some of these plastic projects are getting plastic credits from Verra, we will ask for these projects to create the same amount of employment to offset that loss in employment, for example. There are social safeguards to ensure that there's no child labour and that we're working with many different grassroot organizations and special parts of civil society that looks into how to protect the human rights of these waste pickers.
Maggie:
And so there's quite a lot to how to put together a standard that can actually guide projects and make sure that projects actually create the impact that they're declaring. There's also a mechanism to make sure that there's no double-counting, because who's to actually say that when you collect one ton of plastic from nature, you're asking a company, let's say, if it's a Coca-Cola, to sponsor you for that one ton. Then maybe you can go to Pepsi and ask them to sponsor again. And therefore, you can make that money from both sponsorships, but only for one ton of plastic recovered.
Maggie:
So that's also why there's a very stringent and very robust system in place with these standards, is to ensure that there's a third-party auditor to make sure that the impact really does happen and it's not being double-counted, not double sold to two organizations, for example.
Malin:
So looking at systems change and the leakage of plastics, what can business do?
Maggie:
As a business, they can actually look into reducing whatever footprint they can within their value chain. But no matter how much they reduce, there's no control of how the plastic waste management system is around the world.
Maggie:
Let's say, if you're a Coca-Cola, and that you're selling to more than 180 countries worldwide. Are you able to ensure that all the waste management systems are keeping leakage of plastic waste into the environment at a minimal point? There's really no such way of doing that. And as a manufacturing company, Coca-Cola is out of its niche when they're talking about waste management in general.
Maggie:
And so that's also why plastic crediting comes in, to ensure that, at a reasonable rate, when we're estimating how much leakage is coming out from any type of plastic value chain system, we can actually now have very precise and accurate data from all around the world due to a global effort in tracing plastic waste in the recent years.
Malin:
But then, I'm thinking about how does a business account for the plastic used?
Maggie:
When we have the values from these organizations, with regards to their deliberate plastic consumption, which is their plastic use, you can find them, most of the time, in their final product, which is the Coca-Cola bottle that you buy, and also the intermediate plastic consumption that does not happen at the final product stage. Meaning, for example, all the syrup and all the different containers of ingredients that they add into the assembly lines and the factory. These plastic drums are not being calculated when you look at the final product.
Maggie:
And so that deliberate plastic use, plus a reasonable estimate of the leakage that this value chain results in around the world, would actually constitute the final total plastic footprint of this entire system that we're looking at.
Malin:
Oh, okay. So how could that then help to reach net plastic circularity, Maggie?
Maggie:
By reducing as much as they could, and also making sure that they purchase the plastic credits for recovering and recycling plastic waste to the extent that their total footprint is, it makes net plastic circularity.
Malin:
I come to think about the bigger picture in this. How does the purchasing of credits help in this?
Maggie:
The purchasing of the credits would, in turn, help to facilitate the growth of these recovery and recycling projects so that they could be scaled up and so that they could improve in efficiency, hire more people, create more jobs, ensure that the local communities are being compensated for whatever they're collecting, for example. So quite a lot of these projects are eligible for these plastic credits.
Malin:
Oh, okay. So what makes a project eligible?
Maggie:
To be eligible, for instance, one criterion out of many must be met. And this is additionality. What additionality means is that this project must improve the status quo. It must actually better the current status. Meaning that if you are a curbside recycler, or if you collect recycling for your community with curbside collection, if you actually are just running the operations as you have done so for the past two, three decades, you're not actually eligible for the Verra plastic credits.
Maggie:
However, if you have some sort of additionality, meaning that you're improving status quo, maybe there is some sort of a sorting or some sort of a collection mechanism that can boost the recycling or collection rates, for example. So these mechanisms would be eligible, in terms of being additional.
Maggie:
So we go through a very stringent process of evaluating whether these projects are eligible and that a third-party auditor will be there to actually verify this and produce a report. And after that, plastic credits could be generated by these projects and could be sold to any interested buyer. And so, therefore, plastic crediting is not a greenwashing mechanism, it is quite the opposite. We also try to facilitate extended producer responsibility schemes.
Malin:
Maggie, do you have any examples of the application of EPR schemes and plastic crediting?
Maggie:
Some of these schemes around the world, especially the ones in the United Kingdom and also the one in Poland, and now the one in India, they specify explicitly that plastic credits could be bought by manufacturers to satisfy the requirements that they have in extended producer responsibility schemes.
Maggie:
Sometimes these extended producer responsibility schemes are not called EPR, sometimes they could be called producer responsibility schemes. But they are very similar in nature. Meaning that when a company ... let's say, if it's Coca-Cola again ... when they produce a plastic bottle or a can of Coke, then they actually have to actually charge a few more cents at retail level just so that the cost of recovering that packaging is actually included in the price that you pay for, for this item.
Maggie:
So this is actually the case with many parts of Europe. And if you live in Europe, you're probably no stranger to this deposit return scheme. Same as me, I grew up in Canada and this is actually very much the case.
Maggie:
So, unfortunately, the deposit return schemes, or even extended producer responsibility schemes, are not yet the norm around the world. We are still looking at facilitating the growth of many EPR systems around the world right now, as we speak.
Malin:
And how is plastic crediting then connected to the polluters pays concept?
Maggie:
So the one in India, I mentioned that is actually allowing for plastic credits to satisfy the manufacturer's requirements for extended producer responsibility. That's actually one of the key markets that plastic credits could be used to facilitate this circularity and to ensure that producers pay for the pollution that they create. This is a very simple action of polluters pays concept.
Maggie:
And so plastic credits have many, many applications. And we look forward to having it as an integral part of jump-starting the dying recycling industry. Because after COVID-19, there are 40% of recyclers in Southeast Asia alone that may actually face risk of closing down. This is coming from a report that was published about a year ago. And that this is a very stark reality of how COVID is actually affecting the waste management scene, with mobility inhibited and also quite a lot of restrictions with travelling.
Maggie:
So that's also why there's an opportunity for plastic credits to actually come into play, especially when they operate in a different geography, there is a chance that there could be more net circularity possible through plastic credits.
Malin:
Wow. Thank you so much for joining the interview, Maggie. Do you have any last thoughts to share with us regarding the future?
Maggie:
I hope this was informative for you. And I'm really looking forward to seeing more plastic circularity coming from all over the world. And this is definitely not a solution that will close the case for plastics, we will continue to make sure that post-consumer plastic waste does not become the current problem it is. And that hopefully, in the future, I'll drive myself out of business. Because if we're successful, technically we wouldn't be needing any of these measures after all.
Maggie:
Once EPR is in place, once we do understand how to jump-start recycling again, then hopefully we will actually have a total circular system for plastics, and therefore we wouldn't be needing to talk about this anymore. And I really look forward to that day.
Jane:
This episode was all about plastic crediting standards. If you want to learn more about how plastic crediting standards are applied in a circular plastics economy, listen to the episode Plastics Loop, and also check out the roadmap. You'll find the link in our show notes.
Jane:
If you have any questions or reflections you want to share with us, send them in a text or as a voicemail to oceanalliance@hsr.se.