According to a UN Environment Programme, more than 400 million tons of plastic are generated on the planet each year. However, out of that amount, 79% ends up in landfills or directly in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, whereas only 9% is recycled and 12% is incinerated, resulting in a global environmental crisis.

Plastic recycling is one of the solutions to this crisis, but so far there are insufficient economic incentives for this activity to be done formally, especially in developing countries.

For this reason, Global Zero Waste, Cercarbono and ALLCOT submitted for public consultation a Circular Economy methodology to incentivize the recycling of plastic materials allowing the developers of Programmes or Projects on Circular Economy Materials (PCEM) to quantify and issue Circular Plastic Credits (CPCs) that encourage the collection and recycling of plastic waste. 

The main goal of this methodology is to increase and enhance plastic recycling projects, boosting the formalization of projects and improving the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets, considering that actions to end plastic pollution, such as recycling, are intrinsically related to social, environmental, and economic issues.

This methodology pretends to be a game changer for the recycling industry and the collection of plastics from the environment and, more importantly, for the communities involved in this sector. 

At the same time, decision-makers and civil society will have more accurate, traceable, and verifiable information, which will provide opportunities to remove more plastic waste from the environment and dignify the jobs of millions of people.

The public consultation of this methodology is available through the website www.cercarbono.com. Global Zero Waste Foundation, Cercarbono and ALLCOT invite citizens, government institutions, project owners, consulting firms, validation and verification bodies, operationally designated entities, certification companies, actors in sectors related to climate change, educational institutions, and environmental, social, and economic non-governmental organizations, among others, to participate in this consultation.