Before buying plastic credits, a brand should decide what it wants the purchase to achieve and what it expects to say about it. Supporting additional waste collection, financing recycling and meeting a legal obligation are different objectives. Each requires its own evidence.
Verra's September 2026 Plastic Program newsletter introduced a factsheet on how its programme can support extended producer responsibility, or EPR, schemes. It highlights the potential value of consistent monitoring, reporting and verification. For buyers, the important next step is to test how a proposed project and transaction fit the relevant scheme. Programme guidance alone does not establish that a purchase satisfies a country's legal obligations.
Write the purpose before selecting the credit
Start the purchasing brief with one sentence describing the intended outcome. Then record the geography, material, activity and period that matter to the decision. Keep proposed public wording alongside that brief so the team can test it early.
If the purpose includes EPR compliance, ask local counsel or the relevant scheme administrator to identify the legal basis for accepting the proposed evidence. Confirm who has the obligation, which activities and materials qualify, and what reporting or registration is required. If recognition remains uncertain, do not treat the credit purchase as discharging the obligation.
A voluntary contribution can still have a purpose of its own. Assess it against that purpose rather than assigning an unconfirmed compliance value to the transaction.
Know which activity the credit represents
Verra issues Waste Collection Credits and Waste Recycling Credits. Each represents one metric tonne of the relevant activity above the applicable baseline. Its FAQ explains that collected waste can have different destinations, including recycling, landfill or incineration with energy recovery.
That distinction should shape the purchasing brief. A collection credit alone does not establish that the material was recycled. A recycling credit does not establish recycled content in the buyer's own packaging. An ocean-related claim needs evidence of the relevant collection geography and activity; the word plastic is insufficient.
Ask the seller to describe the waste stream and end destination in ordinary language. Request the documents behind those descriptions. If the intended claim needs a fact that the project cannot demonstrate, revise the claim or select a different project.
Check the project behind the quantity
For a shortlisted project, organise the review around a few concrete questions:
- What activity is credited, during which period, and under which methodology?
- How was the baseline established, and what supports the additional activity claimed?
- Which records trace material from collection through processing or final destination?
- What did the independent assessment cover, and which findings required correction?
- What protections apply to workers and local communities, and how are concerns raised and addressed?
Ask for a coherent account of the project, not just a certificate. Supporting records should explain how quantities were measured, how losses or rejected material were handled, and how the reported destination was checked. The depth of review should reflect the size and risk of the purchase.
Keep additionality and double counting separate. Additionality concerns the activity beyond the applicable baseline and the programme's eligibility tests. Double-counting questions concern overlapping units, uses or claims. Resolving one does not answer the other.
Follow the units through the transaction
Verra assigns unique serial numbers to credits and publishes issuance and retirement records in its registry. Use those records to reconcile the project, credit type, quantity and status with the purchase agreement. Its programme uses independent validation and verification bodies to assess projects; advisory work and independent verification serve different roles.
Before signing, agree who will arrange retirement, on whose behalf, by what date and with what evidence. If credits have not yet been issued, identify the delivery conditions and the consequences of a shortfall. Keep projected quantities separate from delivered and retired quantities in reporting.
Also ask how the seller manages overlapping claims. Where a project receives other funding or participates in an EPR system, seek a documented explanation of which outcome each party may report and what prevents incompatible claims. Do not assume that every overlap is prohibited, or that a registry entry resolves every reporting question.
Make the communication as specific as the evidence
Describe the supported activity, quantity, place and period only as far as the records allow. Distinguish a commitment to purchase from a completed retirement. Keep claims about a product's recyclability, recycled content or environmental impact subject to their own assessment.
Avoid relying on broad labels such as plastic neutral to explain a complex transaction. A reader should be able to understand what was financed, what was verified and what the buyer is claiming. Public language should receive technical and legal review before publication.
A purchasing decision is ready when the project evidence, contract, registry records and proposed communication describe the same outcome. Considering plastic credits? Talk to Súrefni about the questions to resolve before selecting a project.
This article is a general due-diligence guide. EPR recognition and permissible claims depend on the applicable jurisdiction, scheme and facts of the transaction.
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