What’s wrong with plastic credit and offset schemes?

As consumer goods companies clamour to address the reputational damage of ocean plastic pollution, credit schemes have emerged that enable firms to offset the plastic they produce and use, keep it out of the ocean, and recycle it — but how useful are they?

A study by The Circulate Initiative (TCI), a Singapore-based non-profit that advocates for a circular economy in plastics, concluded that there are too many such schemes, which is causing confusion among corporates and consumers, and a lack of transparency over standards and definitions is leaving users exposed to greenwashing.