What Is Plastic Offsetting?

IS IT REALLY THE BEST WAY TO REDUCE PLASTIC?

AND WHAT ROLE DOES IT PLAY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST PLASTIC POLLUTION?

Every year the average US consumer throws away 109kg kilos of plastic. The average European consumer far less: 29 kilos per year which consist of roughly 4,490 pieces of plastic: a daily average of 12. Indian consumers are more responsible with 11kg plastic consumed per year. Now, considering an average of these figures multiplied by 8 billion people in the world, that makes enough plastic to circle the world 40 times! That’s how much plastic is produced in a year; that’s how much we depend on plastic.

“Every Year Enough Plastic is Produced to Circle the World 40 Times”

Plastic surrounds us in everything we do and, even as conscious consumers - trying to avoid it is easier said than done. Sometimes there are no alternatives to plastic and we end up purchasing plastic packaging or plastic products anyway. You might think that this isn’t a problem, since after this plastic is used you can toss it in the recycling bin and it will be recycled, right?

Well, you might want to think twice about that.

On average, only 9% of all plastic produced in a year is recycled and so - roughly - only 1 out of 10 plastic items that you throw away will be recycled. Now the question is: where does the rest go?

The answer to this question is not very encouraging - the majority of our plastic waste ends up in landfills or worse, in our oceans. This is because even the countries that can brag about their state-of-the-art recycling systems aren’t able to manage the amount of plastic waste that we create as consumers - it’s simply too much.

As a consequence, many developed countries that cannot deal with their own plastic waste at home (these include the UK, US, and Canada) have found a sneaky way to get rid of it - they send this waste to third-world countries that accept it in exchange for money with the promise of treating this waste correctly. Unfortunately, developing countries already struggle to take care of their own waste and so the plastic which is imported is often dumped in the ocean or is burnt.

What if there was a simple action we could all do to stop this?

“Only 9% of all Plastic Produced in a Year is Recycled”

MODERN PROBLEMS REQUIRE MODERN SOLUTIONS

When the first alarms of global warming rang, a witch hunt began to find out the culprits behind the carbon emissions that were accelerating this process.

Citizens accused governments of not doing enough, governments accused companies of not caring about the planet and it took a while to find a collective solution to the issue, but eventually, a solution was proposed and - in some cases - implemented: carbon offsetting.

In simple terms, carbon offset schemes allow individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects in order to balance out their own carbon footprints (or, in other terms, the amount of carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere). An example of carbon offsetting would be the possibility of offsetting our emissions when we purchase a plane ticket by paying an additional fee since flying is an activity that releases a high quantity of carbon emissions.

Those fees are then used by the airline company for environmentally-friendly projects such as the planting of trees and the creation of forests, which should contribute to capturing carbon in the air.

Now, to tackle the immense plastic pollution problem, a similar solution has been proposed: plastic offsetting.

HERE COMES PLASTIC OFFSETTING

As consumers, we often feel powerless in front of images showing rivers and oceans full of plastic and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by how hard it is to reduce our own plastic footprint. Well now, with plastic offsetting we have a good way of taking the matter into our own hands and finally having a real impact, here’s how:

A waste worker collects plastic in India.

With plastic offsetting, consumers (and companies) have the opportunity to offset their plastic footprint and neutralise it, similar to the way companies are neutralising their carbon emissions.

With an amount as small as 1 dollar paid by an individual, a certain amount of plastic waste would be intercepted from the environment on behalf of this individual or company, and then recycled. This money can be paid directly to organizations that are battling against plastic pollution on the field. Organisations like ours. 

At Plastics For Change, we created a system that prevents plastic from entering our oceans by collecting it and providing the waste collectors that intercept it with fair incomes and access to better livelihoods. Being based in India, one of the biggest importers of plastic waste and a country where over 40% of the solid waste management is carried out by informal waste workers, we’re able to see firsthand the impact that plastic mismanagement has on the people and on the planet.

This is how Plastics For Change can offset your plastic consumption for you: you use the plastic (in the absence of better alternatives, of course) - we recycle it and provide fair-trade jobs in vulnerable communities around India. 

By offsetting your plastic with us, you can be sure that your offset amount will go directly towards those who collect the plastic and will help fund new recycling centers that will reduce the amount of plastic entering our oceans - thereby tackling one of the most pressing issues of our time.

WILL PLASTIC OFFSETTING WORK?

Like with carbon offsetting, the concern with plastic offsetting is that it won’t incentivise companies and individuals to change their behaviour when it comes to plastic consumption. 

Surely there is the risk that companies will continue using plastic if they feel like they can offset their impact. Nonetheless, we believe plastic offsetting can be a great tool and a fantastic starting point in the battle against plastic misuse, but we are not stopping there. In fact, rather than just pushing companies to offset their plastic, at Plastics For Change we encourage them to move towards more sustainable alternatives like recycled plastic for their packaging needs. 

Our view is that, if done right, plastic offsetting could play a pivotal role in cleaning up our environment from plastic so that images like the one shown above will be forgotten. Nonetheless, plastic offsetting should be part of a wider range of activities to tackle plastic pollution and therefore serve as a “transition” tool while we develop a more circular and sustainable society. If you are a brand and you want to know more about our plastic offsetting offering, click here.