With plastic pollution littering the planet, certification organizations are popping up to sell “plastic credits” to companies, allowing them to offset the plastic they make and use with equivalent plastic waste collected and reused. Critics are skeptical.
I understand there are many problems with buying your way toward fixing pollution instead of actually eliminating or reducing it. Especially when there’s limited oversight on the paid organizations. This is not solving the problem and is not a long term solution. The greenwashing aspect is real.
But is this not a step in the right direction? It’s taking some profits and turning the funds toward environmental cleanup. It’s a company taking some level of responsibility over the harm caused AND actually putting resources toward it.
It seems logical that the next step is to avoid this expense, which could potential lead to actually curbing plastic waste or carbon emissions. By including this damage as a true cost to the business, it then incentivizes taking action to prevent the expense itself.
Right now it’s about as useful as the 10 cents for a plastic bag thing. Tiny inconvenience and everyone does it anyway.
The penalty needs to be at least 10 times more if we want companies to even notice.