Page 48 - Plastics News July 2024

FEATURE NEWS

ing about when to build plants, decisions that OPEC “We finally hit that inflection point in the curve, and
makes about gasoline production and things like we need to do the same for plastics,” Bailey said.
that,” Bailey said. “There are a lot of macroeconomic
trends that show there is going to be a lot of virgin She noted that the tools that boosted the renewa-
plastic on the market for several years to come, and bles sector will benefit the recycling space.
it is going to be very cheap.” Renewable energy received federal subsidies, which
Recycled content mandates and more plastics recycling stakeholders are calling for in the
recycling world. Regulations started requiring cer-
Bailey and Eagles said the current plastic dynamics tain energy users to incorporate a certain percent-
are very similar to where the development of renew- age of renewable energy, much the same as a PCR
able energy as a major energy source was 10 or 20 mandate. Government procurement guidelines be-
years ago. gan to prefer renewable energy, and there is move-

Renewable energy was a fraction of what was pro- ment toward federal procurement guidelines that
duced on the market, and electricity production was would support recycled-content products.
dominated by coal, oil and natural gas. Today, solar, Source – Plastics Recycling Update
wind and other renewables are coming to scale, and
although fossil fuels are still dominant, the Interna-
tional Energy Agency has forecasts that show peak
fossil fuel demand coming this decade and fossil
fuels declining as a share of global energy supply.
That’s in part due to the “phenomenal rise” of solar,
wind, electric vehicles, heat pumps and other clean
energy technologies.

What are Plastic Credits About?

Plastic credits aim to mitigate global plastic pol-
lution and foster sustainable waste management
practices.

lastic pollution is a growing environmental
crisis, with millions of tons of plastic waste in
Pthe oceans yearly. To overcome this issue, in-
novative solutions like plastic credits have emerged.
Plastic credits (PC) are a market-based mechanism
designed to incentivize and fund the collection and
recycling of plastic waste.

Understanding Plastic Credits

Plastic credits are certificates representing collect-
ing or recycling a specific amount of plastic waste,
typically measured in kilograms or tons. Like car-

50 PLASTICS NEWS July 2024