At talks on cutting plastics pollution, plastic credits are on the table. What are they?

By CARLOS MUREITHI and JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — As countries meet in Nairobi to negotiate a treaty aimed at cutting plastics pollution, one of the tools that’s been discussed is plastic credits. Those work a bit like the carbon credits that many fossil fuel companies have purchased to try to balance greenhouse gas emissions. With plastics, the concept involves companies or peoples paying for a specified weight of plastic to be collected somewhere in the world — giving them a credit to produce or use an equivalent amount of plastic. A report published Friday by two groups that want to see less plastic made says the credits are a flawed tool that won’t help. Prominent supporters argue that the credits can mobilize money that’s needed to tackle plastic pollution.