Ocean Plastic: Closing the Loop
At Benjamin’s Braddock’s Graduate party in 1967, Mr. McGuire tells him “There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?” Mr. McGuire was right. In 1967 global plastic production was around 30 million tons, by 2019 we made about 368 million tons. Benjamin could have made a fortune with the 1127% increase.
A lot of this plastic now has a place in our oceans. Plastic makes up nearly 70% of all ocean litter. Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic ends up in the world’s seas. This is a crisis for our food supply, coastal livelihoods, human health and biodiversity.
“An estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year. Without immediate and sustained action, that amount will nearly triple by 2040, to 29 million metric tons per year. That’s the same as dumping 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of plastic on every meter of coastline around the world.” Pew Charitable Trusts
Plastic’s cost-effective convenience created its popularity, but it’s toxic longevity multiplied by the massive scale of our single use products has created a crisis.
Our plastics problem is similar to the greenhouse gas fueled climate change, in that we understand the problem and know the solutions. Our real challenge lies in the will to act fast enough. Part of this challenge is in securing the needed capital to implement solutions at scale.
On the climate action landscape, carbon offsets are now playing a major role as a financing mechanism to support projects that will avoid or sequester GHG emissions. The offset market is expanding rapidly as organizational carbon neutrality commitments have increased exponentially in the past few years.
Just as offsets are a big part of an array of climate change solutions, they can help us solve our plastic crisis. Plastic has increasing significance in corporate sustainability and CSR goals as well as ESG mandates. Company stakeholders; customers, employees & investors want to know how an organization is contributing to changing the plastic system.
Plastic credits can be created by projects that remove existing plastic pollution from the ocean or prevent it from travelling down waterways. A project that meets a rigid criterion has their process and results verified by a 3rd party NGO such as Verra, using a similar methodology to carbon offsetting. Acting as an independent auditor the verification service allows the project to generate credits from their operations that are recorded and tracked in a registry system.
One key part in generating a plastic credit is additionality. Additionality occurs when ocean bound plastic is removed from the ecosystem by a project, that without it would not have happened.
Once available in the environmental markets, plastic credits can be purchased by a company as a way to support projects. The funds from purchasing these credits go to ocean debris cleanup operations, which can allow for expansion and greater impact. The best projects will be able to recover plastic that is recycled, reducing the need for new plastic manufacturing.
As with the volume standard in carbon offsetting, one plastic credit matches a metric ton (MT) of material, which equates to 1000 kilograms or 2205 pounds.
This new plastic credit provides a supporting company with a structured, verified solution to address their own plastic footprint and for communication in sustainability reporting. Every credit comes from a particular project, so there is a specific story to tell stakeholders. These ocean debris recovery projects are about a lot more than trash.
Several UN Sustainable Development Goals are aligned in these projects. These operations provide jobs (SDG #1 — No Poverty), very often to people in developing parts of the world like Haiti, Indonesia and India. There are also operations in Florida and London. SDGs #6 — Clean Water & Sanitation and #12 — Responsible Consumption & Production are central to ocean bound plastics recovery and recycling. As plastic is produced from crude oil, reducing additional use supports SDG #13 — Climate Action. #14 — Life Below Water is the banner SDG here and these projects are all about partnerships (#17 — Partnerships for the Goals).
Beyond operational and supply chain footprints, a company has an opportunity to assist employees to address their household plastic use through offsetting. In GHG accounting terms, this would be a new “Scope 4” activity. In helping to offset employee footprints, a company educates individuals for a compounding impact.
Plastic credits will not solve our global plastics crisis. We don’t want to promote a false sense of “plastic neutrality” or allow plastic production to remain status quo from “offsetting”. Ideally, systems have to be redesigned to use a tremendously less amount of material in most every aspect of life. We also need a comprehensive recycling system that closes the loop and the need to produce new plastic. This will all take some time.
“Plastic pollutes at every stage of its existence, from extraction, use, to disposal. Crediting companies for plastic offsets is an interim step in addressing ocean plastic pollution. Ultimately, we must reduce the amount of plastic produced and used and stop plastic from ever entering the ocean in the first place.” -Dianna Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO, Plastic Pollution Coalition
Addressing plastic footprints with credits should be viewed as a bridge to a future closed loop system. The marketplace for verified plastic credits can play a key role in financing needed ventures at scale. While not an end solution, offsets can provide critical funding to help clean our oceans from their current state; improving human health, biodiversity and qualities of life.
Hopefully at a party for a graduate in 2021, a modern Mr. McGuire pulls them aside and says “There’s a great future in plastic credits. Think about it. Will you think about closing the loop?”
How can you help? cparker@climeco.com
