Finance plastic waste recovery and recycling projects
Whether you want to achieve plastic waste reduction or recycling commitments, support projects in specific locations, or comply with emerging regulations, South Pole can help you to find and implement these solutions.
Regional waste management infrastructure lacks the capacity to capture and recycle all the plastic waste we generate.
We all currently rely on regional governments to manage our waste, without any alignment to the companies who design the products and packaging that become waste. Extended Producer Responsibility legislation offers a local and mandatory solution.
Companies can address their plastic footprints by financing activities, organisations or entrepreneurs that enable the regional scale-up of collection and recycling infrastructure. South Pole helps you find the right activities to finance, in conjunction with opportunities to reduce and redesign the products responsible for the waste.
By financing certified impacts and taking responsibility for your products and packaging. A credible mitigation strategy means financing infrastructure in regions where non-processed waste occurs, and addressing the same or similar plastic polymer.
Be a frontrunner by supporting initiatives in your region to close the gap on plastic waste management capacity. South Pole advises clients to first measure and reduce their impact, before financing plastic waste infrastructure as part of a wider circular economy strategy.
By prioritising projects that are located in your key markets, your company can help to build regional capacity to address plastic waste. South Pole selects projects that transform plastic waste management in their local economy and we strive for projects with multiple win-wins (e.g. plastics, biodiversity, energy use and livelihoods).
South Pole actively invests in plastic collection and recycling projects globally by developing and certifying their impact for credible and transparent financing. These projects offer companies ways to contribute to circular economies in their region of their sales, and for the materials of their waste footprint.
Some of these projects are certified for Plastic Credits, a measurable, verifiable, and transferable unit representing a specific quantity of plastic that has been collected from the environment, or recycled. Plastic Credits are especially suitable for organisations who want to support smaller volumes than the project's capacity, and at the same time want the highest standard in transparency, accounting and impact verification.
Finance should be directed to plastic waste collection activities that are located in the same regions, and address the same polymers as far as possible. Reliance on beyond-value-chain mitigation activities should reduce over time.
"Financing plastic action is a straightforward and fast way for companies to support the construction of critical collection and recycling infrastructure where it's urgently needed. In this way, it gives companies an opportunity to support the conditions of a circular economy, in addition to reducing and redesigning their own impact. We believe investments in plastic waste infrastructure should work alongside, or enhance, Extended Producer Responsibility regulation. "
Emilie Devenport, Managing consultant, Circular Economy and Practice project sourcing lead, South Pole
South Pole recommends using plastic credits as part of a holistic plastic stewardship program that first evaluates and addresses upstream plastic use. Companies should first conduct transparent plastic footprint accounting, develop sustainable materials strategies, and re-design products for improved recyclability before investing in plastic waste infrastructure.
Account for total plastic usage, waste mismanagement and recycling rates on a regional level.
Set ambitious plastic reduction targets and implement product redesign improvements to increase the product's recycling potential and reduce the risk of waste mismanagement.
Finance should be directed to plastic waste collection activities that are located in the same regions, and address the same polymers as far as possible. Reliance on beyond-value-chain mitigation activities should reduce over time.
The 'Net Zero Plastic to Nature' label is used by organisations that can demonstrate that they have assessed and publicly disclosed their plastic footprint estimates and reduction strategy and that the total volume of plastic they sell and use is collected, resulting in net zero plastic leakage into the natural environment.
This is demonstrated by proof of waste collection and management being equivalent to the total weight of the company's plastic waste generation. When existing infrastructure does not cover the regional plastic waste generated, plastic waste collection credits can be used to finance additional waste collection.
The labels can be achieved on a product or company level, depending on the scope covered in the plastic journey.
The 'Net Zero Plastic Wasted' label is used by organisations that can demonstrate that they have assessed and publicly disclosed their plastic footprint estimates and reduction strategy and that the total volume of plastic they sell and use is collected and recycled.
This is demonstrated by proof of waste collection and recycling, equivalent to the plastic waste generated by the company. When existing waste management infrastructure does not cover the regional generated plastic waste, waste collection credits can be used to prove investment in additional waste collection. When existing infrastructure does not cover regional or polymer-specific plastic recycling, plastic recycling credits can be used to prove investment in additional waste recycling.
The labels can be achieved on a product or company level, depending on the scope covered in the plastic journey.
In 2019, South Pole became a founding advisory member of the 3R Initiative that works towards increasing the accountability of plastic waste reduction efforts. Learn more about the tools from this Webinar Recording.
A methodology for companies to measure their plastic footprint and account for mitigation activities. These guidelines provide a transparent accounting method and facilitate credible leadership claims.
A project impact assessment framework that enables transparent and verified accounting of plastic waste collected or recycled. The voluntary standard is managed by Verra and has an associated plastic credit mechanism.
