Orphan plastic refers to post-consumer single-use plastic that is of little value and non-recyclable. This type of plastic waste poses a significant threat to our world’s oceans. Our partners at TONTOTON have found a solution to prevent this plastic waste from entering the oceans by collecting it and giving it a productive next life. With the selling of plastic credits, TONTOTON can expand and grow its project efforts.
Click here to learn more about our plastic credit program. If you are interested in supporting this project by purchasing plastic credits, please contact us today.
This video is an excellent introduction to TONTOTON’s project and the impact plastic credits can make on our planet.
ClimeCo’s Feature in Sustainable Plastics’ Magazine
ClimeCo’s Feature in Sustainable Plastics’ Magazine
Over the past few years, the plastics industry has been faced with an ongoing trend toward a more sustainable plastics economy. This trend reaches deeply into every aspect of the industry. The Sustainable Plastics platform reflects this changing landscape of the plastics industry. Featuring the Plastics Recycling event, a bimonthly magazine, a website, a newsletter, and, in the future, webinars, Sustainable Plastics focuses on developments, news, and events that are shaping the plastic industry’s vital transition toward a viable, circular plastics economy.
ClimeCo is a respected advisor, transaction facilitator, and trader of environmental commodity market products and related services. We specialize in voluntary carbon, regulated carbon, renewable energy credits, plastics credits, and regional criteria pollutant trading programs. Complimenting these programs is a team of professionals skilled in providing sustainability program management services, and developing and financing of GHG abatement and mitigation systems.
For more information or to discuss how ClimeCo can drive value for your organization, contact us at 484.415.0501, info@climeco.com, or through our website climeco.com. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using our handle, @ClimeCo.
World’s First Plastic Credit
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION CONTACT Nancy Marshall, Vice President, Marketing 484.415.7603 or nmarshall@climeco.com
World’s First Plastic Credit
June 8th, 2021 (Boyertown, PA) – ClimeCo, a leader in the management and development of environmental commodities, has partnered with TONTOTON, a project developer in Vietnam that removes no-value plastic from the environment to generate the world’s first plastic credit from an independent protocol and 3rd party verification audit. These credits were achieved through the Ocean Bound Plastic Neutrality Certification from French-based NGO Zero Plastic Oceans, and have been verified by leading global certification specialist Control Union Certifications. A plastic credit is an environmental commodity that represents the collection or recycling of one tonne of plastic material, which can be transferred between organizations. ClimeCo will market the plastic credits generated from this partnership, and clients will have the ability to purchase credits to use in their ESG, CSR, and sustainability programs.
“We decided to partner with and support TONTOTON because of their solution to create value in recovering plastic waste before it enters the ocean, that without them would otherwise not happen,” says Chris Parker, Director of Plastic Markets at ClimeCo. “Their values of addressing environmental justice, community health, and the welfare of workers matched our own.”
TONTOTON projects recover post-consumer, non-recyclable, ocean bound plastic waste and co-process it into AFRM (Alternative Fuels & Raw Materials), which replaces coal at a local manufacturing plant to reduce the site’s GHG emissions. TONTOTON’s program is built on economic benefits for all parties, from the informal waste pickers to the funding companies. ClimeCo’s investment in TONTOTON has allowed them to hire workers, expand capacity, and start working in new areas in Vietnam to scale up the volume of plastic waste recovery.
“Plastic credits allow us to create a significant environmental and social impact by focusing on non-recyclable plastic that has no demand in the commodity market and is the main cause of pollution in our oceans,” says Barak Ekshtein, Founder and CEO at TONTOTON. “ClimeCo’s environmental approach to long-term solutions allows us to be creative in developing sustainable circular economy projects that will impact the environment over the years.”
Many social and environmental co-benefits should result from successful plastic credit projects. TONTOTON provides workers who are primarily female with an additional sustainable income, personal protective equipment, and primary health insurance for those who need it. The projects also support local governments, NGOs, and local businesses to build sustainable waste management infrastructure where it does not exist, creating circular economics. Their work is helping to conserve marine biodiversity and contributing to ecosystem restoration.
For more information on these first plastic credits or other projects, contact us by using the information listed below.
About ClimeCo
ClimeCo is a respected advisor, transaction facilitator, and trader of environmental commodity market products and related services. We specialize in voluntary carbon, regulated carbon, renewable energy credits, plastics credits, and regional criteria pollutant trading programs. Complimenting these programs is a team of professionals skilled in providing sustainability program management services, and developing and financing of GHG abatement and mitigation systems.
For more information or to discuss how ClimeCo can drive value for your organization, contact us at 484.415.0501, info@climeco.com, or through our website climeco.com. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using our handle, @ClimeCo.
A Story About Circular Restoration
A Story About Circular Restoration
by: Chris Parker, Director of Plastics Program | April 28, 2021
This blog provides a fictional story about a town called San Maya on the Central American Caribbean coast. Even though the town is fictional, as well as the project in this story, it is based on real activities that are currently happening in different locations all around the world. We have combined these activities into a single story to provide you a glimpse into what it could look like if we used innovation, determination, and cooperation together to address our plastic waste problem.
The Story of San Maya
For generations, the small town of San Maya on the Central American Caribbean coast made its living from fishing. In the 1990s, tourists from all over the world began coming to experience the local culture, scuba dive, bird watch, and fish. Residents enjoyed new employment opportunities and rising incomes. During the 2000s, they were able to build a new school, clinic, and water treatment plant. Plans were put in place to protect the mangrove forests, waterways, and reefs, as these were the economic resources providing new prosperity.
Today, San Maya’s beaches, estuaries, and reefs are covered with plastic waste that flows down the Rio Jaguar river from the city. The mangroves are dying from the combination of plastic toxicity, climate change, and removal. Tourists stopped arriving a few years ago due to the town’s inability to manage the volume of plastic from the river, which litters the community. With the loss of tourism income, local anglers returned to their boats for commercial fishing, yet most of their trips resulted in catching more plastic than fish. Today, the people are moving away from San Maya in search of work; they have become plastic refugees.
A Time to Restore
The future of San Maya depends on the restoration of its fishery ecosystem. This requires removing plastic waste from its environment, diverting future ocean bound plastic, and creating a waste management infrastructure. San Maya’s plastic waste has unrealized value and, once it becomes valued, the city can help create a more circular economy in the region.
The emergence of the plastic credit market has created an opportunity to help San Maya. ClimeCo can work with the community to fund the removal of plastic waste and start a recycling operation to upcycle collected material into next-use construction products while helping to restore the mangrove forests. Local industry can be approached to solicit their support in the project to reduce the business risk associated with increased economic and societal disruption from plastic waste. Because this local industry is currently focused on new carbon neutrality commitments and goals for addressing their plastic footprint, this represents a unique opportunity for them.
Creating the Rio Jaguar Project
The upfront funding from ClimeCo’s partnering company can be used to build a small recycling facility and hire San Maya residents to collect, measure, sort, and record the recovered plastic – thus creating the Rio Jaguar Project. From the project’s plastic collection and recycling operations, ClimeCo would develop and register new plastic credits through Verra’s Plastic Waste Reduction Program. Each credit represents one tonne of recovered or recycled plastic, which upon issuance, a company can purchase to support frontline efforts tackling the plastic waste crisis.
Part of the agreement with our Rio Jaguar project’s industry partner is that they will receive a portion of the generated plastic credits, which can be used to offset part of their plastic footprint. ClimeCo will sell the remaining credits, and the proceeds can fund the purchase of a river trap to collect ocean bound plastic debris, as well as the expansion of the San Maya recycling facility. As the area’s ecosystem gets restored, the Rio Jaguar project will move into phase 2 – ClimeCo providing capital to hire additional workers to plant thousands of mangrove seedlings.
Mangroves are very efficient at sequestering and storing carbon compared to their terrestrial counterparts, up to 10 times better. ClimeCo will develop and register carbon offsets through Verra’s Blue Carbon Conservation methodology from the new mangrove plantings. As part of our industry partner’s carbon neutrality program, they will purchase a portion of the mangrove-issued carbon offsets, which will be used to help address its manufacturing facility’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Conclusion and Potential Co-Benefits
Plastic credit projects can address various interrelated problems: ecosystem degradation, inadequate waste management, biodiversity loss, health and economic risks, and carbon-fueled climate change. These projects can also support a menu of UN Sustainable Development Goals, including:
No Poverty
Decent Work & Economic Growth
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
Sustainable Cities & Communities
Climate Action
Life Below Water
Partnerships for Goals
Success for these types of projects requires establishing working partnerships to the benefit of all stakeholders. Unfortunately, the problems seen in this story are being replicated all over the globe, yet the efforts of government and philanthropy are not matching the scale of these problems. One key component is for private sector companies to use their vision and capital to initiate circular economics. The development of plastic credits and carbon offsets in this story gave our industrial partner the market-based financing mechanisms to deploy its capital and help create relationships to benefit its ESG programs. Plastic recovery and mangrove restoration provide the value to move a restoration and circular business economy forward. Partnerships will make it sustainable.
To learn more about plastic waste, Verra’s Plastic Waste Reduction Program, or discuss an idea for a project, please feel free to contact us. We would love to help you become part of a circular restoration project.
About the Author
Chris Parker has 20+ years of experience in energy and commodity markets, sustainability, conservation, and ESG. He leads ClimeCo’s plastic market program, which partners with projects worldwide to recover and recycle plastic waste. Prior to joining ClimeCo, Chris had been consulting and leading projects in both the corporate and environmental nonprofit sectors to create business solutions for a sustainable economy. Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Finance & Investment Management from the University of Alabama. He loves to spend his free time surfing, climbing, fishing, and playing chess.
ClimeCo Expands into the Plastic Credit Market with the Hire of Chris Parker
NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION CONTACT Nancy Marshall, Corporate Marketing Director 484.415.7603 or nmarshall@climeco.com
ClimeCo Expands into the Plastic Credit Market with the Hire of Chris Parker
April 14, 2021 (Boyertown, PA) – ClimeCo announces its expansion into the plastic credit market with the hire of Chris Parker as Director of our new plastics program. Parker will be working with partners on projects worldwide to recover and recycle plastic waste. This program expands financing mechanisms to scale the transition to a closed-loop economy, while providing companies with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) solutions that support ecosystem restoration.
“ClimeCo’s core mission is to address environmental challenges with market-based solutions,” says Derek Six, Chief Business Officer for ClimeCo. “The problem of plastic waste is an environmental challenge that is personal for many of us at ClimeCo. As an avid boater and fisherman, the waters of our planet and the wildlife they contain are precious, and this program is our contribution to protecting them.”
Plastic waste is the most visible of our environmental concerns, which has caused it to move significantly to the top of many corporate sustainability, CSR goals, and ESG mandates. Plastic is incredibly versatile, with properties that make it ideal for many applications. These same qualities have also become an environmental issue, with more than 11 million tons of plastic waste ending up in our oceans each year. Without change, plastics will undoubtedly impact our ecology, economy, health, and livelihood.
“The effort of governments and philanthropy is not matching the scale of the plastic waste problem,” says Parker. “The emerging plastic credit market will direct private sector funds to help scale waste recovery and recycling. ClimeCo’s clients can support these frontline projects and address their plastic footprints on a path to a circular economy.”
Parker holds a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Finance & Investment Management from the University of Alabama. He has more than 20 years of experience in energy and commodity markets, sustainability, conservation, and ESG. Before joining ClimeCo, he consulted and led sustainable economy-focused projects that created business solutions for clients in both the corporate and environmental non-profit sectors.
About ClimeCo
ClimeCo is a respected advisor, transaction facilitator, and trader of environmental commodity market products and related services. We specialize in voluntary carbon, regulated carbon, renewable energy credits, plastics credits, and regional criteria pollutant trading programs. Complimenting these programs is a team of professionals skilled in providing sustainability program management services, and developing and financing of GHG abatement and mitigation systems.
For more information or to discuss how ClimeCo can drive value for your organization, contact us at 484.415.0501, info@climeco.com, or through our website climeco.com. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using our handle, @ClimeCo.
