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Plastic Collective’s Plastic Leadership Labels

Plastic Collective’s Plastic Leadership Labels

Plastic Collective’s Plastic Leadership Labels

Plastic Collective offers three plastic leadership labels to brands. The labels are awarded based on a brand’s achievements in the key circularity actions of collecting and recycling equivalent volumes of the plastic they sell or use, and using recycled content.

100% Net Plastic Collected:

Brands may display the “100% Net” Plastic Collected label to demonstrate collection of their plastic.

To achieve one of these labels a brand must:

  • Disclose a set of key plastic accounting metrics including its plastic footprint, and an estimate of how much is likely to enter the natural environment;
  • Disclose its plans to address the six critical circularity actions;
  • Demonstrate the collection of equivalent volumes of the plastic it sells or uses*.
A brand may choose to finance the collection of all volumes of plastic it sells or uses, or the volumes it estimates will enter the natural environment, based on regional waste management infrastructure.

The label may be used by a brand to demonstrate the achievements at a product, brand, workplace or company level.

100% Net
Plastic Collected

100% Net Plastic Recycled:

Brands may display the “100% Net” Plastic Recycled label to demonstrate recycling of their plastic.

To achieve this label a brand must:

  • Disclose a set of key plastic accounting metrics including its plastic footprint, an estimate of how much is likely to enter the natural environment, how much is likely to remain unrecycled;
  • Disclose its plans to address the six critical circularity actions;
  • Demonstrate the collection and recycling of equivalent volumes of the plastic it sells or uses*.

A brand may choose to finance the collection and recycling of all volumes of plastic it sells or uses, or the volumes it estimates will enter the natural environment, and remain unrecycled, based on regional waste management infrastructure.

The label may be used by a brand to demonstrate the achievements at a product, brand, workplace or company level.

100% Net
Plastic Recycled

100% Net Plastic Circular:

Brands may display the “100% Net” Plastic Circular label to demonstrate circularity of their plastic.

To achieve this label a brand must:

  • Disclose a set of key plastic accounting metrics including its plastic footprint, an estimate of how much is likely to enter the natural environment, and how much is likely to remain unrecycled;
  • Disclose its plans to address the six critical circularity actions;
  • Demonstrate 100% recycled content in the plastic it sells or uses*; and
  • Demonstrate the collection and recycling of equivalent volumes of the plastic it sells or uses*.

A brand may choose to finance the collection and recycling of all volumes of plastic it sells or uses, or the volumes it estimates will enter the natural environment, and remain unrecycled, based on regional waste management infrastructure.

The label may be used by a brand to demonstrate the achievements at a product, brand, workplace or company level.

100% Net
Plastic Circular

Six Critical Circularity Actions

The following are six critical circularity actions. The more a brand performs these actions, the more its plastic becomes circular meaning that it stays within the circular economy and does not become waste. All brands that display a plastic leadership label must disclose their achievements to date and their future plans across the six critical circularity actions.

Critical circularity action Meaning
1. Report Calculating your key plastic accounting metrics including plastic usage* (footprint), estimating how much of that plastic is not collected and not recycled, identifying targets to mitigate plastic in the future, and reporting on performance.
2. Reduce The extent to which your actions have reduced the amount of virgin plastic you use.
3. Recyclability The extent to which it is possible for your plastic to be recycled.
4. Collect Of the plastic waste that you put in the market, what is actually collected directly or indirectly by you.
5. Recycle Of the plastic waste that you put in the market, what is actually recycled directly or indirectly by you.
6. Recycled content Of the plastic you use in the future, how much of that is recycled plastic.

 

* This is the total downstream macroplastic used by the brand “plastic footprint”. In the case of a product assessment, this is the plastic that leave the brand’s operations with the products it sells. In the case of a workplace assessment, this is the plastics used by the company on a day to day basis when running their workplace. Microplastics are plastics that measure less than 5mm in length and are not included in the assessment

Mitigation of Plastic Pollution – Climate Action on Plastic Waste, Mitigation Checklist

Mitigation of Plastic Pollution – Climate Action on Plastic Waste, Mitigation Checklist

Mitigation of Plastic Pollution – Climate Action on Plastic Waste, Mitigation Checklist

Mitigation of Plastic Pollution

This blog is the second in our blog mini series focused on Plastic Collective’s Plastic Pathways for Corporates which help corporates address plastic pollution as part of taking action on climate change and achieving their sustainability objectives, guided by the Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship, as released in February 2021 [1]  (the “Corporate Guidelines”).

Plastic Collective‘s Plastic Pathways for Corporates take a corporate through these seven steps, based on the Corporate Guidelines:

  1. Define the scope of the Corporate’s new plastic stewardship initiative;
  2. Take stock of mitigation activities;
  3. Take stock of metrics such as the plastic footprint, leakage, recycled content and end of life waste management such as landfill and recycling rates;
  4. Identify possible commitments and claims, such as Net Zero, and plastic credits requirements;
  5. Identify partnerships;
  6. Establish longer term targets to use plastic better (such as reducing plastic packaging, and single use plastics, reuse of plastic) and to promote circular economy principles; and
  7. Communicate results.

For more information on Step 1 – define the scope, you can read Plastic Pathway – Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship: Intro

In this article we look at Step 2 – Take stock of mitigation activities.

We’ll address step 2 in two parts – first we’ll look more closely at the importance of mitigation activities in the context of corporate plastic stewardship, and examples of these activities, and then we’ll explain the “take stock” exercise that we perform in the Plastic Pathways for Corporates to understand the current landscape of a company’s mitigation activities.

What are mitigation activities?

Section 3 of the Corporate Guidelines presents opportunities for intervention, or mitigation activities, that a company can undertake to address the amount of plastic it uses, or the amount of plastic that subsequently becomes waste (e.g. after consumer use) and which may end up in the natural environment. Section 3 of the Corporate Guidelines also stresses the importance of a corporate reducing the tons of plastic in its plastic footprint and leakage over time. This is understandable considering the possible adverse consequences of plastic waste to the natural environment. Mismanaged plastic waste can end up as ocean plastic pollution, marine plastic pollution, marine debris, marine litter, plastic debris and microplastic pollution, all of which can have adverse impacts on the natural environment, ecosystems and marine environments.

The Corporate Guidelines present these mitigation activities in a mitigation hierarchy, as within and beyond value chain investments. The image below is reproduced from Section 3.1, Figure 6 of the Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship [1]:

Let’s look first at the within value chain mitigation activities as set out in Section 3.2 of the Corporate Guidelines:

1. Redesign for reduction, reuse and recycling: Companies should prioritize redesign of products and packaging and when doing so, focus on reducing the number of material types used and clearly communicating the plastics that are used (3R Initiative et al., 2021, pp.16-17).

For example, a company may:

  • Redesign to reduce use of plastic in products and plastic packaging by eliminating plastic, light weighting, and replacing plastic with non-plastic, recyclable materials.
  • Redesign to reuse plastic by implementing a reuse system such as refill at home, refill on the go, return from home or return on the go.
  • Redesign to increase recyclability by avoiding composites made of multiple material types, avoiding materials and polymers not commonly used, ensuring any features such as labels are capable of being processed by the relevant recycling system, making sure products and packaging can be disassembled, minimizing use of dyes, pigments and inks and avoiding toxic additives (3R Initiative et al., 2021, pp. 16-17).

2. Increase recycled content of products: Use post consumer recycled material input over virgin plastic. This will promote recycled plastic production and reduce demand for virgin production of plastic (3R Initiative et al., 2021, p. 18). For example, using recycled plastic content in plastic packaging such as plastic bottles and plastic bags.

3. Increase collection and recycling: Implement collection and recycling systems as a means to address solid waste management, such as take back systems, that focus on closed loop recycling (where waste is recycled into something very similar to what it started out as) that align with circular economy principles (3R Initiative et al., 2021, p. 18).

4. Increase collection (where recycling is not possible): Ensure the plastic’s end of life is one of (i) reprocessing (e.g. turned into plastic bricks which may be used in construction), (ii) incinerated with energy recovery (e.g. power generation), or (ii) disposed of to a landfill that meets the requirements of the Corporate Guidelines (3R Initiative et al., 2021, pp. 18-19).

The Corporate Guidelines acknowledge that it is unlikely that a corporate will be able to address all plastic using within value chain mitigation activities. For this plastic they cannot prevent, corporates can instead compensate for it using beyond value chain investments as set out in Section 3.3 of the Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship. Let’s look at these a bit more closely:

  1. Plastic Credits: A Plastic Credit represents the collection or recycling of a quantity of plastic which is additional to what would have happened without a crediting mechanism. Projects that perform the underlying collection and recycling activity comply with strict environmental and social safeguards and are only issued plastic credits against collection and recycling activity that is verified by a third party accredited validation and verification body (3R Initiative et al., 2021, pp. 20-21). Read more here about how plastic credits work.
  2. Extended Producer Responsibility (“EPR”) schemes: companies fund plastic waste management and collection infrastructure, either as required through legislation, or voluntarily (3R Initiative et al., 2021, p. 21).
  3. Other beyond value chain investments: Other quantifiable activity that companies sponsor that permanently removes or recycles plastic, which would not have occurred without the activity itself, and where there is no risk of double counting – e.g. no risk that two organizations will take credit for the same plastic collection/recycling activity) (3R Initiative et al., 2021, p. 22).

Now that we understand the different mitigation activities, let’s look at the specific “take stock” exercise we perform in Plastic Collective’s Plastic Pathways for Corporates.

Take stock of mitigation activities:

As it relates to the mitigation activities, Section 1.2 and Section 3 of the Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship [1] say that Companies should:

  • Start with activities targeted as high up the value chain as possible – those at the top of the mitigation hierarchy – as a priority.
  • Prioritize within value chain investments over beyond value chain investments.
  • Use beyond value chain investments to complement a company’s within value chain activities.
  • Assess social, economic, and environmental tradeoffs between mitigation activities and apply the most beneficial activities, wherever they sit in the hierarchy.
  • Always consider safeguards to mitigate any potential adverse effects of implemented activities including environmental impacts and impacts to human health.

Using our Plastic Mitigation Checklist, we work with you to identify the nature and extent of your activities along the mitigation hierarchy. This helps identify areas along the hierarchy where you have taken action as well as those for future focus. This “take stock” gives a comprehensive overview of the company’s mitigation activities as they stand today, and provides a foundation for later steps in the Plastic Pathway such as establishing longer term targets and communicating to stakeholders including markets and customers.

Next time we look at Step 3: Take stock of the plastic metrics where we look at the plastic footprint and identify tons of plastic used, as well as other metrics such as leakage and end of life waste management such as landfill, incineration, and recycling rates.

From air pollution and carbon emissions to biodiversity and sustainable development, find out more about Plastic Collective and get latest news and info about Plastic recycling, clean energy and the effects of climate change, by subscribing to the Plastic Collective newsletter.

Sources:

[1]  3R Initiative et al. (2021). Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship. https://www.3rinitiative.org/guidelines-for-corporates.

Image by Mohamed AL-TAMEEMI from Pixabay

Plastic Pathway – Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship: Intro

Plastic Pathway – Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship: Intro

Plastic Pathway – Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship: Intro

Corporates and their customers are increasingly aware of the challenges that plastic pollution poses to our environment and of the need to collectively rethink our approach to plastic use and management as part of climate action.

The question for corporates is then – what should they do and what can they tell their customers?

To support industry in taking leadership action, the Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship (the “Corporate Guidelines”) were released in February 2021 by the 3R Initiative, EA, South Pole and Quantis.

The Corporate Guidelines are a set of best practices for accounting and reporting of plastic footprints and other metrics, mitigation methods and commitments to reducing plastic waste and accompany Verra‘s Plastic Waste Reduction Standard (the “Plastic Standard”), a global accounting standard for plastic collection and recycling activity.

To guide corporates through the application of the Corporate Guidelines, Plastic Collective developed a multi-step Plastic Pathway which provides a substantiated basis for the commitments or claims that a corporate wishes to make, tied to its underlying activities.

As part of the Plastic Pathway we:

  1. Define the scope of the Corporate’s new plastic stewardship initiative;
  2. Take stock of mitigation activities;
  3. Take stock of metrics such as the plastic footprint, leakage, recycled content and end of life waste management such as landfill and recycling rates;
  4. Identify possible commitments and claims, such as Net Zero, and plastic credits requirements;
  5. Identify partnerships;
  6. Establish longer term targets to use plastic less (such as reducing plastic packaging, reuse of plastic) and to promote circularity, sustainability and the circular economy ; and
  7. Communicate results.

In this blog mini series we explore in depth the methodologies of the seven steps above including what a company does at each stage of the process and what it communicates to its market.

Let’s start with scope.

The first step in a corporate’s Plastic Pathway is defining the scope of the underlying assessment, specifically:

  1. The level: is the Plastic Pathway for a single product, a product line, a market, a brand or for the entire company?
  2. The types of plastics to be included: macroplastics only or also microplastics?
  3. The system boundary: plastic associated with a company’s activities can arise upstream of the company, in the operations of the company itself, and downstream of the company. Which will you include?

The level at which the Plastic Pathway can be applied is up to you. In deciding, think ahead to what you want to say to your market – do you want to make claims at a company-wide level or for a specific product line?

When deciding on plastic types and system boundaries, the Corporate Guidelines require that at a minimum, the macroplastic waste generated downstream of a company’s operations is included. This means that any upstream-downstream plastic (plastic which enters the company operations and leaves with the product such as product fibres), and operational-downstream plastic (plastic that is attached to a product within the company’s operations and leaves together with the product such as packaging components) must be included. Downstream only plastics (plastics that are never handled by the company such as a retailer’s plastic carrier bags) are optional. [Source: Corporate Guidelines, section 2.2]

When setting the scope, consider the time and resource investment you are prepared to make at this point. If unsure, consider starting with a single product or a product line, focusing on macroplastics, and downstream only plastic waste. This is usually the quickest way to start making commitments and claims and the scope of the activity can always be widened at a later point.

In blog 2 of this miniseries we will look at mitigation activities.

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