Not just CO2 savings

Over 8 million tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year - one dump truck per minute. By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. Unbelievable amounts - we at MONACO DUCK were so shocked about this that it was immediately clear to us that we had to change something about this. As part of our climate neutrality, we support the Plastic Bank project.

In developing countries in particular, huge amounts of plastic waste are created due to packaging and a lack of infrastructure for disposing of waste. This garbage collects on land and gets into the sea very quickly via rivers and wind. Money for plastic - that is the approach of this project to prevent that. In Haiti, Indonesia and the Philippines, garbage collectors can earn their income this way. Anyone can collect plastic waste there and exchange it for money, food, drinking water, cell phone credit, cooking oil or even school fees at the local Plastic Bank collection points. The exchange value is higher than the actual market value of the plastic, so that the local people can really make a living from it. This project means that plastic does not even get into the sea. It is recycled and processed into so-called social plastic, which is recycled into new products - ecologically and socially compatible.

But how does climate protection work with plastic-free oceans?

The ocean stores a quarter of the CO2 from the atmosphere and even 93.4 percent of the heat from the greenhouse effect - it is therefore a major brake on climate change. Warming, overfishing, pollutants and garbage endanger this balancing function. The Plastic Bank prevents plastic waste from entering the sea and thus indirectly protects the climate. Because there are no certified emissions reductions, ClimatePartner supports the Plastic Bank in combination with a Gold Standard climate protection project, a Wind farm in the Philippines - and thus we support two great projects in one. With every ton of CO2 we offset 10 kg of plastic waste.

And what does that bring the local people?

Fair income for collected plastic, plus supply of essential goods. In regions with inadequate disposal infrastructure, the Plastic Bank connects freight forwarders, plastics processors and freighters and is building a recycling economy. Healthy oceans are important for stabilizing the climate; In 2018, over 1,000 tons of plastic that did not end up in the oceans was collected. The project protects marine life, microorganisms and endangered species.