Plastic credits are market-based instruments designed to finance the collection and recycling of plastic waste around the world. Functioning similarly to carbon credits, each plastic credit serves as a transferrable certificate verifying that a specific weight of plastic - usually one metric ton - has been successfully recovered from the environment or processed through a recycling facility. Enterprises buy these credits to offset their operational ‘plastic footprint’, directing crucial revenue streams toward environmental cleanups and infrastructure development in underfunded regions.

The crediting system operates two distinct categories: plastic waste collection credits and plastic waste recycling credits. Collection credits fund frontline projects that intercept mismanaged garbage from the oceans, beaches and landfills before it degrades ecosystems. Recycling credits focus downstream, subsidising local processing plants to convert collected waste into usable raw materials that actively displace virgin plastic production. Beyond ecological mitigation, the system introduces powerful social benefits by proving marginal workers in the waste sector with jobs, improving their safety, wages and livelihood. Plastic credits offer businesses an immediate mechanism to finance global plastic waste management and stimulate a circular economy.