If you're responsible for a brand's plastic EPR obligation, you've probably noticed that credits for the same category and tonnage can vary a lot in price. It's tempting to treat them as a commodity. They aren't. What you're really buying is evidence that a quantity of plastic was collected and processed, and the quality of that evidence varies.
Four questions to ask a supplier
- Does the category match? Credits have to be generated in the category you're claiming against. Category III multilayer credits can't stand in for Category I rigid packaging.
- Is there a weight at collection? A weighbridge slip or logged weight at pickup, tied to a place and a date.
- Is there a weight at the facility? A second weight on arrival, so the two can be reconciled. Big gaps are a warning sign.
- Who processed it? A named, registered recycler or end-of-life processor with a receipt for the material, and a recorded output.
If a supplier can answer all four for every credit, the credit will usually survive an audit. If they can't, you're relying on trust.
Why cheap credits cost more
A credit with thin records is cheaper for a reason. The supplier has spent less on collection, weighing and documentation, and the risk has moved to you. If a filing is questioned, the consequences land on the obligated brand: a rejected claim, a restated ESG figure, or a penalty.
What good looks like
The best credits come from operations where collection, sorting and processing are run by people who record everything as a matter of routine, not as a separate compliance exercise. It's one of the reasons we run the whole chain ourselves, from the collection route to the plant, and hand over a document pack reconciled to the tonnage claimed.
If you're reviewing your EPR suppliers for this cycle, here's how we work.