CTX members can buy or sell WCCs or WRCs from June 2024, using the exact same process and accounts as for Verra VCS Carbon. CTX members who do not hold a Verra Registry account can hit the ‘Buy to Retire’ button and let CTX handle the process for you.

How Big is the problem? What we now know is that the shale gas boom in the United States has been fueling a massive build-out of plastic infrastructure in the US and beyond. In as little as five years, these investments could increase global plastic production capacity by 30%+, driving companies to produce ever greater volumes of plastic for years to come. This means the problem can rapidly become unmanageable, because when this plastic is produced (which seems almost unstoppable), plastics companies will find markets to consume it. Production will drive demand. This wave of investment increases pollution risks to frontline communities throughout the plastic supply chain and directly undermines efforts by cities, countries, and the global community to combat the growing plastic crisis. Our oceans and food chains are already infected. Between 1970 and 2000, worldwide plastic waste more than tripled. A report by Plastic Soup Foundation noted that over 50% of all plastics ever produced were made after the year 2000. Moreover, it has been estimated that over 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced ever year, and it is ending up in our food chain, meaning it’s now in your body and bloodstream.  

Despite the ‘recycling’ commitments worldwide, only a fraction of the more than 400 million tons of plastic produced each year is recycled. Most of the waste ends up in landfills, rivers and the ocean and this plastic waste has become a critical concern for many companies, governments. Especially for consumers around the world. However, without new incentives, it will be challenging to scale up waste collection and recycling to the levels needed to reduce the use of virgin material and keep significant amounts of plastic from entering the environment, especially the world’s oceans. Hence, like the CTX Carbon Markets, plastics credits allow the transfer of funds from those who create the problem to those solving it.

The Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Standard is a program for consistent accounting and crediting of various plastic collection and recycling activities. It drives capital EcoFinance, for actions already taken, to support investment in projects that increase the collection and/or recycling of plastic waste. The program enables the independent auditing of projects to determine the extent to which they have reduced plastic waste. It issues credits based on the volume of plastic collected and/or recycled above baseline rates (i.e., what would have happened in the absence of the project activity). This “plastic crediting mechanism” provides an efficient and powerful means of financing activities that verifiably reduce plastic in the environment anywhere in the world. And thanks to CTX and Verra, this can form part of a Carbon and ESG offset program for all companies serious about ESG actions – not just future targets.

To know more information about the Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Standard, click here.