Offset your personal plastic footprint

How did we get here?

There are now more than 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic waste in our oceans today

The story of plastic started over a 100 years ago

In 1907, a chemist named Leo Baekeland invented the first plastic material, called ‘Bakelite’. It was a wonderful invention – lightweight, durable and cheap to produce – that quickly gained widespread adoption. But as we now know, what once a man-made miracle soon became a man-made environmental crisis.

More plastic is being produced today than ever before

Contrary to popular belief, more virgin plastic is being produced now than ever before in history. Over 380 million tons of virgin plastic were produced globally in 2021, compared to 200 million tons just 20 years before. And this number is only expected to grow, with reports estimating plastic production to double to almost 756 million tons per year in 2050.

Plastic is a global problem with local impact

The problem of plastic is global, but it affects each of us locally. Studies have shown communities in developing nations to be particularly affected, with over 30 double-decker busloads of plastic waste being burned or dumped every 30 seconds. And, according to the Ocean Conservancy Institute, trash in the ocean kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year through ingestion and entanglement.

Reducing your plastic footprint is always the first step…

At Second Life, we believe preventing plastic from entering the environment is always better than recovering it once it’s there. That’s why we encourage both companies and consumers to take as much action as possible to reduce how much plastic they use everyday, or swap it out with sustainable alternatives when possible.

…But offsetting your plastic footprint helps the world take the next step

As the plastic crisis grows ever larger, the world needs to address not only the new virgin plastic being produced everyday, but also the existing plastic already present in our environment. That’s why we believe that taking a more active role in supporting plastic recovery and recycling efforts worldwide is what’s needed now more than ever.

You can play an active role in restoring our clean oceans

Beyond reducing and avoiding plastic to lower your footprint, now you can play a more active role in offsetting your plastic footprint. By supporting recovery and recycling activities in high-impact coastal and island communities, we ensure that for every kilogram of plastic waste you generate each year, an equivalent amount is recovered and recycled from our oceans.

Offset your personal plastic footprint

Take an active role in keeping our oceans and communities clean. Second Life helps offset every kilogram of plastic waste you produce each year, from high-impact recovery and recycling operations around the world. Each credit you purchase sponsors a kilogram of plastic recovered or recycled, that wouldn’t have been otherwise.

✓ 1 plastic credit = 1 additional ton of plastic recovered or recycled
✓ Directly support the highest-impact recovery and recycling operations globally
✓ Independently audited and Verra-certified Plastic Waste Reduction Project

Plastic offset packages

Offset your personal plastic footprint through one of our yearly plans. Cancel anytime.

Personal

50 USD / year

For individual consumers, based on a global average footprint of 50 kg of plastic yearly.

✓ Certificate of proof

✓ Bi-annual report

✓ Independently audited

select

Small Business

860 USD / year

For small businesses with an annual plastic footprint of up to 1,000 kg of plastic yearly.

✓ Certificate of proof

✓ Bi-annual report

✓ Independently audited

select

Medium Business

5500 USD / year

For medium businesses with an annual plastic footprint of up to 10,000 kg of plastic yearly.

✓ Certificate of proof

✓ Bi-annual report

✓ Independently audited

select

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Yearly, up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans. It escapes from landfill sites, floats down our drains, ends up in rivers and makes its way into our oceans.

There are now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean and 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, with a total estimated 150 million tons of plastic currently in our oceans. Every day around 8 million new pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans.

80% of the plastics in the ocean comes from land-based activities. It is trash blown from the streets, trash cans, or landfills into rivers, sewers, or directly into the ocean.

– For every ton of plastic that is recycled, 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space is saved. Recycling plastic also reduces the amount of non-renewable energy used in the plastic-making process, as creating new items from existing plastic uses significantly less energy than creating plastics from raw materials.

– Recycling reduces the pollution that can come from the chemicals used to make these bottles. It also helps cut down on the amount of trash thrown into landfills, so our garbage doesn’t take up as much space. Recycling also creates jobs for people who collect recyclable materials and work at places that turn them into new materials.

The most commonly recycled plastics are:

– Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – water bottles and plastic trays

– High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – milk cartons and shampoo bottles

– Polypropylene (PP) – margarine tubs and ready-meal trays

– Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – plumbing and piping

– Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) – food and shopping bags

– Polystyrene (PS) – plastic cutlery

Every time plastic is recycled, the polymer chain grows shorter, so its quality decreases. The same piece of plastic can only be recycled about 2-3 times before its quality decreases to the point where it can no longer be used.

Ocean Bound Plastic is Abandoned Plastic Waste of all sizes located within the range of 50 km from the shore in communities or areas where waste management is inexistent or very inefficient.

Plastic bottles can be converted into many different products. Just think of all of the plastic toys, tools, electronic gadgets, and other plastic items in your own home.

Plastic that is collected from your homes, businesses and local recycling centers is sent to Material Recovery Facilities (MRF), which separates plastic and non-plastic, and/or a Plastic Recovery Facilities (PRF), which sorts plastic by type. These facilities use sorting equipment such as an optical sorter, or manual sorting, to distinguish between the different types of plastics. The plastic then goes to a reprocessor where it gets washed, shredded and sorted further. The plastic is then melted and extruded into new recycled plastic pellets. These pellets are sold on to producers to make new products.

– Reduce your own plastic waste

– Reuse – Bring your own reusable shopping bags or water bottles

– Refuse – Refuse plastic (i.e. straws, plastic bags, beverage tops)

– Remove – Pick up trash in your neighborhood and when visiting parks and beaches.

– Recycle – Recycle the plastics you use and no longer need.