Plastic Credit Exchange revamps system, uses blockchain technology

Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX), a Filipino non-profit plastic offset program, partnered with Microsoft to develop a public, blockchain-protected credit registry.

“It is important that the credit registry is trustworthy and available to the public,” said PCX founder and chair Nanette Medved-Po in a statement. “By using blockchain technology to not only protect the ledger but provide transparency around additionality and protect against double counting, stakeholders will know where and how they positively impact the environment.”

Similar to carbon markets that use carbon credits to limit companies’ production of greenhouse gases, PCX uses plastic credits to limit the number of plastics that businesses produce.

Companies in the Philippines who have purchased plastic offsets include Nestle Philippines and Unilever Philippines. Meanwhile, companies like PepsiCo Snacks, Wyeth Nutrition, Century Pacific Food, Colgate-Palmolive, and NutriAsia have pursued plastic neutrality in the country.

According to PCX, these partnerships have helped divert over 18 million kilograms of plastic waste from the ocean.

“Sustainability and humanity’s response to it is one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime — a planet-sized challenge that requires a planet-sized response,” said Microsoft Philippines Country Manager Andres Ortola in a statement. “Technology can — and must — accelerate that response.”

Microsoft provided an Azure-based blockchain solution to beef up the credit registry’s security, using a web application to integrate the blockchain into PCX’s current operations.

PCX’s blockchain-protected credit registry can be found plasticcreditexchange.com , where it shows how much plastic credit each corporation has bought. — B. H. Lacsamana