Corporate giants can now offset plastic footprint with plastic credits

Iranpolymer/ Baspar  Africa Carbon & Commodities (ACC), an organisation driving sustainable solutions for environmental challenges in Africa, today announced the Deekali Plastic Project in Senegal has become the first plastic credit project in Africa to meet the requirements for registration for the VERRA Plastic Waste Reduction Standard.
This project aims to combat the ongoing problem of plastic pollution in Senegal caused by the inadequate waste management infrastructure in the country, combined with poorly or non-enforced regulations on use.Its  521-kilometer coastline is particularly vulnerable.
The Deekali Plastic Project offers global corporate entities the first chance to offset their plastics footprint through the purchase of plastic credits.
To that end, It works with hundreds of plastic waste collectors and three recycling facilities. Cash generated by plastic credit sales pays for the collection of the waste plastic waste, which is then removed from the environment and if possible, recycled into chips and granules and sold to plastic manufacturers to replace virgin plastic. The Project also produces plastic lumber that is made from 100% recycled plastic, which is used to manufacture school desks, stools, chairs, tables and much more – essentially anything that can be manufactured with lumber.

As Macoumba Diagne, director of one of the recycling companies in the Deekali Project, noted, the plastic credits allow his operations to increase the company’s collection and recycling capacity through modernisation of its production lines, recruit new employees, and improve employees’ working environment. His employee programs include “One Employee, One Roof,” enabling pre-financing of ecological and affordable housing.

The Deekali Plastic Project in Senegal is one of only four programs globally to meet the VERRA requirements for plastic credits. Verra was founded in 2007 initially as an effort to ensure greater quality assurance in voluntary carbon markets. It now manages one of the leading voluntary carbon markets programmes, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program, as well as a number of other initiatives, including establishing the Plastic Waste Reduction Standard, which provides a global standard for plastic waste collection and recycling projects, within the scope of its Plastic Waste Reduction Program.

The programme functions as a private-to-private market-based system. It issues credits based on the volume of plastic collected and/or recycled above baseline rates  – in other words, above what would have happened in the absence of the project activity.
A total of 34 projects around the world are listed on the VERRA directory, currently going through the approval and registration process. For every verified credit, one ton of plastic is removed from the environment or recycled in order to meet the VERRA standard.
The Deekali Plastics Project underwent a two- year VERRA review process and independent one year audit ensuring the project met all social and environmental requirements as well as monitoring of the plastic waste from its source to its end destination.

“Gaining the registration status from VERRA is a remarkable achievement, and now plastic credits can be purchased by global companies and organisations, allowing corporates to make a difference in Senegal, a Least Developed Country, which is suffering from immense plastic pollution,” said Nicole Dewing, ACC co-founder and managing director. “The registration marks a major milestone in ACC’s fight against plastic waste in Africa. The programme is a necessary tool to start the plastic recovery revolution.”

It also provides an incentive for global companies to help developing countries, have a more positive impact, and be a part of the solution, added Mamdou Sarr, ACC co-founder and executive director.
Companies worldwide seeking to find a way to offset their plastic footprint can now purchase plastic credits, and help where the problem is most acute.

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