{"id":47920,"date":"2025-08-06T13:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T13:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47920\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T13:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T13:30:09","slug":"new-global-market-for-plastic-credits-threatens-livelihoods-at-kenyan-dump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47920\/","title":{"rendered":"New Global Market for \u201cPlastic Credits\u201d Threatens Livelihoods at Kenyan Dump"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.<\/p>\n

At Nairobi\u2019s Dandora dumpsite, men, women and children scramble over vast mountains of trash \u2014 each waste\u00a0picker hoping to unearth anything they can sell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scavenging silently among them, marabou storks<\/a> \u2014 some nearly five feet tall \u2014 wage their own daily contest for survival. A rising wind carries an overwhelming stench and lifts vortexes of black plastic scraps, which swirl past birds and people alike.<\/p>\n

Solomon Njoroge, 35, chair of the Nairobi Recyclable Waste Association, began waste picking at the age of eight. He used to earn decent money by collecting and selling high-value plastic waste \u2014 rigid plastics such as bottles made from highly recyclable polyethelene terephthalate (PET). Now, he says, he must dig deeper and longer for fewer and fewer bottles because\u00a0private companies are plucking the high-value plastic from Nairobi\u2019s waste stream before it reaches the dump by collecting it directly from hotels, supermarkets, and gated communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to pick. Now we\u2019re just searching,\u201d says Njoroge, swatting away flies.\u00a0\u201cMany women here scavenge with their children. They have no choice. They can\u2019t afford school fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Solomon Njoroge says it\u2019s become much harder to find rigid drink bottles and other valuable plastic at Dandora because waste companies are often collecting it before it reaches the landfill. Credit: James Wakibia<\/p>\n

There are 460 million<\/a> tonnes of new or \u201cvirgin\u201d plastic produced every year, including 428 million tonnes made from fossil fuels. Most of it ends up as plastic waste \u2014 353 million tonnes a year \u2014 and just 9 percent<\/a> of this waste gets recycled<\/a> annually. The rest will take centuries to degrade.<\/p>\n

Most plastic waste ends up in seas, lakes, and rivers \u2014 75 to 199 million tonnes\u00a0now contaminate<\/a> the oceans \u2014 where it damages ecosystems and injures wildlife. The breakdown of plastic pollution has also created a\u00a0microplastic health crisis<\/a>, with extremely tiny, toxic bits of plastic now found in marine and other wildlife,\u00a0the remotest<\/a> places on Earth, and throughout<\/a> the human body.<\/p>\n

Despite these risks, global use of plastic is on track to triple<\/a> by 2060 unless governments\u00a0 commit to rapidly curbing production, and shift to environmentally sound alternatives.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, just a few miles away from the Dandora dumpsite, governments met in November 2022 at the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi and agreed to craft a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.\u00a0Negotiators are meeting in Geneva this week to finalise the text of the treaty.<\/p>\n

As the pact moves closer to completion, lobbyists from Verra, the world\u2019s leading verifier of carbon credits, are pushing<\/a> to get plastic credits included in the final text, according to a\u00a0document<\/a> on Verra\u2019s website. Activists are concerned that the fossil fuel industry, which opposes the inclusion of binding limits on plastic production, will actively push for plastic offsets as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If successful, this will likely spur a significant boost in the market for plastic credits, such as those already being sold on the plastic offsets market that Verra itself launched in 2021, in partnership with\u00a0businesses including Nestl\u00e9 and Danone. \u00a0<\/p>\n

At the most basic level, a plastic credit is a certificate representing a specific amount of plastic waste that has been removed from the waste stream. The theory is that the purchase of a plastic credit will fund efforts at collection or recycling of plastic that would not have happened otherwise \u2014 a concept called \u201cadditionality\u201d \u2014 which allows the buyer to claim a reduction in their own plastic production, use, or waste.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of the projects now selling<\/a>\u00a0plastic credits on Verra\u2019s platform are backed by petrochemical companies, such as Dow Chemical, Shell<\/a>, and ExxonMobil<\/a>. All of these companies are investing heavily in plastics manufacturing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Critics argue that plastic credits will serve primarily to justify business as usual in the petrochemicals industry \u2014 and that it will be very difficult to know whether a given credit\u00a0is really backed by additional plastics clean-up or recycling.<\/p>\n

Similar concerns have already shaken carbon markets. In 2023, a joint\u00a0investigation<\/a> by The Guardian, Die Zeit, and SourceMaterial found that around 94 percent of the \u201cavoided deforestation\u201d carbon credits validated by Verra had not funded additional rainforest conservation. This meant that corporate giants \u2014 ranging from from Disney to Shell \u2014 that had backed \u201ccarbon neutral\u201d products with Verra-approved offsets might have been full of hot air.<\/p>\n

Verra\u2019s CEO at the time, David Antonioli, strongly rejected<\/a> the findings of the investigation\u00a0and defended\u00a0Verra\u2019s impact on the conservation of rainforests. He stepped down just months later, and didn\u2019t give a reason for his departure.<\/p>\n

Critics also\u00a0argue\u00a0that the expanding<\/a> market for plastic credits\u00a0risks undercutting informal waste workers, like the pickers at Dandora. While some waste management companies may generate new jobs via revenue raised from selling plastic credits, the mechanism may also\u00a0undermine the livelihoods of\u00a0waste pickers and collectors, as companies step in between trash bins and dumpsites to extract the most valuable plastic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Credit: James Wakibia<\/p>\n

\u201cNet Zero Plastic\u201d?<\/p>\n

A project called \u201cImproving Waste Picker Livelihoods in Kenya,\u201d run by Kenya\u2019s largest waste firm, TakaTaka Solutions, sold its first plastics credits earlier\u00a0this year. The buyer is\u00a0the UK-based luxury car brand Bentley Motors, which uses plastic\u00a0credits from TakaTaka Solutions\u00a0and a number of other projects in the global south, including in India and Thailand, to claim it is \u201cnet zero plastic to nature.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

TakaTaka\u00a0Solutions (named after the Kiswahili word for \u201crubbish\u201d) has received<\/a> funding from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), a global initiative backed by some of the world\u2019s largest petrochemical giants, such as Shell, Dow, and ExxonMobil. AEPW also supports several other plastic credit-generating projects across the global south.<\/p>\n

TakaTaka Solutions\u00a0has promised<\/a> that sale of the credits will fund above-market wages and improved conditions for waste pickers. But at least 10 waste pickers, as well as representatives speaking on behalf of the informal waste sector, said that they have yet to see any benefits from the project, and accused\u00a0TakaTaka Solutions\u00a0of cutting them out of the recycling chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cTakaTaka Solutions,\u00a0they are trying to exclude waste pickers by becoming collectors and collecting waste at source,\u201d says Njoroge, leaving behind unrecyclable single-use plastics exported\u00a0to Kenya from abroad. \u201cThey just remain here,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cThe dumpsite is like a cemetery where this material is buried and left there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Gisore Nyabuti, the chair of the Kenyan National Waste Pickers Welfare Association,\u00a0echos claims that TakaTaka Solutions is bypassing waste pickers by collecting directly from households. \u201cThey only recycle what they can,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat they can\u2019t, they bring there\u201d \u2014 to the landfill \u2014 \u201cas mixed waste. So they don\u2019t have a solution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

TakaTaka\u00a0Solutions\u00a0acknowledges that \u201cthere is indeed a trend of [high value plastics] being recovered earlier in the chain\u201d but says that responsibility rests with the growing number of companies intercepting the plastic ahead of the dumpsite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to questions, TakaTaka\u00a0Solutions\u00a0CEO Daniel Paffenholz\u00a0said in a statement that\u00a0the company purchased more than half its plastic from depots where it engaged directly with informal waste pickers, and was \u201cexpanding these efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the flip side,\u201d Paffenholz said, \u201cmore waste picking is happening in residential areas to compensate, which is a healthier and safer working environment compared to dumpsites.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Verra documentation, the TakaTaka\u00a0Solutions\u00a0project began generating credits in 2022, and was formally registered under Verra\u2019s Plastic Waste Reduction Standard in 2024.<\/p>\n

The project has sold 15 credits so far, according to TakaTaka\u00a0Solutions, which says it would \u201cwelcome the sale of further credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verra said that independent verification bodies had confirmed that all projects certified under its Verra Plastic Programme reached appropriate standards.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date with DeSmog news and alerts<\/p>\n

\u201cAll projects certified under the Verra Plastic Program must meet strict stakeholder engagement, and environmental and social safeguard requirements, including compliance with national labor laws,\u201d a Verra spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, experts warn that the concerns expressed by waste\u00a0pickers about their livelihoods being harmed are emblematic of an inherent risk associated with plastic credits: that promises of future social or environmental benefits may never materialise, even as companies like Bentley Motors claim impact now. Bentley Motors declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Taking Credit<\/p>\n

Critics also question whether plastic credits always serve to increase the removal of plastic waste from the environment \u2014 or even fund it at all.<\/p>\n

Under Verra\u2019s verification methodology, projects must prove additionality \u2014 that their plastic collection or recycling would not have happened without funding from credit sales, according to a report<\/a> on plastic credits released in late 2024 by the campaign group Flora and Fauna.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Verra\u2019s framework allows credits for work done in the past, which means \u201cthe collection and\/or recovery activities [went ahead] without the funds generated by a credit,\u201d the report stated, casting doubt on \u201cwhat additional value they are actually providing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verra\u2019s framework also puts the funding itself in doubt, because credits can enter the market before there is a guaranteed buyer for them. \u201cProjects could go through the project registration and certification process and be issued credits, but then never actually be able to sell them,\u201d stated the report, which also found that the longer credits go unsold, the less likely they are to find a buyer. \u201cThere is therefore no guarantee the credit market will generate any revenue for their projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWaste pickers are already exerting themselves to pick up and recycle all the plastic that they can and that is saleable,\u201d says Neil Tangri, science and policy director at the United States-based campaign Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).\u00a0\u201cSo what we are seeing in some cases with the plastic credit companies is that they come in and they basically start taking credit for something that the waste pickers were already doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brands that buy the credits, he says, \u201care telling the consumer, look, you can buy our plastic and it doesn\u2019t really count.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, somehow we\u2019re going to make that plastic in your hands magically disappear because waste pickers in Kenya are picking something out of a landfill,\u201d says Tangri. \u201cIt is a fantasy that they\u2019re selling guilt-free plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Pole, the carbon offsets consultancy that worked with Bentley to purchase the plastic credits, states that the TakaTaka\u00a0Solutions project\u00a0\u201cis additional according to Verra\u2019s Plastic Standard methodology,\u201d and that \u201cthe project\u2019s publicly available monitoring and verification reports indicate that the plastic waste that enters the recycling facility \u2014 including any contaminated waste \u2014 is managed responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Pole (which has been described<\/a> as \u201cthe world\u2019s most influential climate consultancy\u201d by corporate watchdog Follow the Money) faced major criticism in 2023 for selling tens of millions of euros worth of carbon credits from Kariba, a Zimbabwe forest conservation project, that turned out to be largely worthless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Verra spokesperson said that \u201cto be certified with Verra\u2019s Plastic Program, a project must demonstrate that it collects or recycles plastic waste beyond what would have likely occurred without the project and that this activity was made possible because of the incentives provided through Plastic Credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verra recently accepted a project resubmitted by another Kenyan waste firm, Mr Green Africa, after its initial application did not demonstrate that it met the criteria, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Verra certified both the TakaTaka Solutions and Mr Green Africa projects once they had satisfied the independent verifier, a third-party auditor and Verra\u2019s review team, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Mr Green Africa is part-owned by Dow Chemical, a major producer of single-use plastics.<\/p>\n

Mr Green Africa said in a statement that \u201cin countries such as Kenya\u2026plastic credits could provide an additional revenue stream\u201d that might help the the company achieve profitability, allowing it to expand its processing capacity, improve pay and conditions for waste pickers, and \u201cadjust and improve our approach to working with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Companies generating plastic credits say they are developing a vital part of the infrastructure needed to tame the global scourge of plastic waste, which will take time to reach its potential. But critics, such as Gerance Mutwol, a plastics campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, fear that plastic credits may mostly serve to help petrochemical companies deflect pressure to slash plastic production.<\/p>\n

Plastic credits are \u201cusually more of a greenwashing tactic for companies to just run away from responsibility,\u201d he contends. \u201cIf you ask waste pickers what\u2019s changed since these credit projects started, they\u2019ll tell you: nothing. No new money, no better conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need plastic offsets in the Global Plastics Treaty,\u201d says Mutwol. \u201cWe need plastic reduction, reuse, refilling and better plastic packaging design for achieving zero waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

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