PLASTIC IMPACT PROTOCOL v3
Global Environmental Impact Solutions, LLC (GEIS)
Independent plastic crediting standard designed for immediate launch and structured for future migration to recognized third-party certification systems.
Version: v3
Status: Governing standard
Effective use: Launch-ready for GEIS independent issuance and reserved future expansion pathways
Important position: This Protocol is not a claim of certification under Verra or any other external program unless a project or unit is separately approved under that program.
Design intent: build a high-integrity GEIS standard that works now with independent validators and verifiers, while minimizing later rework if GEIS elects to migrate eligible projects into an external certification framework.
Document Control and Use
This Plastic Impact Protocol v3 is the governing standard for the creation, review, issuance, transfer, retirement, and claim use of GEIS-issued Plastic Impact Credits. It is intended to function as a serious independent market standard rather than a marketing summary.
GEIS may publish guidance notes, templates, registry rules, verifier requirements, and annex activation notices that supplement this Protocol. Those documents must be read consistently with this Protocol. Where there is a conflict, the stricter requirement controls unless GEIS formally approves a superseding rule in writing.
This version is intentionally organized as one master document. Active launch methodologies are included directly in the Protocol. Future pathways are included as reserved annexes with mandatory activation conditions so GEIS can prepare now without overstating present readiness.
Protocol Architecture
Core Program Standard: Active
Program governance, units, lifecycle, assurance, registry, claims, safeguards, and migration structure.
Methodology A - Collection (PIC-C): Active
Rules for qualifying collection above baseline into controlled downstream management.
Methodology B - Mechanical Recycling (PIC-MR): Active
Rules for qualifying net eligible input into approved mechanical recycling pathways.
Reserved Annex C - Advanced Recycling: Reserved
Future pathway; no issuance permitted until activation conditions are met.
Reserved Annex D - Reuse and Repurposing: Reserved
Future pathway; no issuance permitted until activation conditions are met.
Reserved Annex E - Pre-processing and Aggregation: Reserved
Future pathway for specialized handling stages if GEIS later activates it.
1. Purpose, Scope, and Program Positioning
This Protocol governs how GEIS registers projects, defines eligibility, validates project design, monitors project activity, verifies performance, issues Plastic Impact Credits, controls ownership and retirement records, and restricts the way units and sponsorships may be described in the market.
GEIS is operating an independent plastic crediting framework. This Protocol is designed to be structurally compatible with later migration into recognized third-party certification systems, but it does not itself create certification under any outside standard. GEIS, project proponents, buyers, intermediaries, and partners must not state or imply otherwise.
Launch activity under this Protocol is limited to two active issuance classes: Collection Class (PIC-C) and Mechanical Recycling Class (PIC-MR). Reserved annexes are included for future expansion, but reserved annexes are not active issuance pathways unless GEIS publishes a formal activation notice meeting the conditions stated in this document.
Excluded launch pathways include plastic-to-fuel, open burning avoidance without qualifying controlled downstream proof, export or shipment alone as a credit basis, and any activity already fully counted under another plastic-credit, waste-credit, or materially similar environmental instrument unless GEIS documents a no-double-counting arrangement and retains discretion to reject the activity.
2. Definitions
Additionality. The condition that the project activity, or the eligible portion of it, would not occur at the same scale, quality, timing, or environmental integrity in the absence of the project and its associated crediting or sponsorship support.
Advanced Recycling. A future recycling pathway that uses non-mechanical conversion technologies and is eligible only if GEIS later activates a dedicated annex with technology-specific environmental, traceability, and quantification rules.
Aggregation. The controlled combination of verified kilogram balances into a larger issuance quantity without losing the ability to trace each issued unit back to the underlying project records and evidence.
Approved Facility. A facility accepted by GEIS for the applicable pathway based on lawful operation, evidence capability, chain-of-custody reliability, and environmental and worker-safety acceptability.
Baseline. The most plausible scenario describing what would have happened to the relevant plastic waste in the absence of the project activity.
Batch. A uniquely identified lot or traceable unit of plastic activity supported by measurement, source, date, and custody records appropriate to the pathway.
Batch Evidence Package. The collection of documents, media, measurements, receipts, logs, and related proof supporting an individual batch or lot.
Chain of Custody. The documented sequence of possession, control, handling, and transfer needed to support eligibility from the source stage through the relevant qualifying downstream stage.
Collection Event. A defined collection activity or set of activities during a stated time period linked to identified batches, measurements, and downstream handling records.
Contamination. Water, dirt, organics, non-plastic material, mixed material, or other unsupported content that must be excluded or conservatively deducted from eligible mass.
Corrective Action. A required response to a deficiency, inconsistency, control failure, or documentation weakness identified by GEIS, a validator, or a verifier.
Crediting Period. The period during which a registered project may generate eligible quantities under this Protocol, subject to continuing compliance and GEIS approval.
Eligible Plastic Waste. Plastic waste that satisfies the pathway-specific eligibility requirements of this Protocol and is not otherwise excluded, unsupported, or already counted under another primary issuance basis.
Fraud. Any intentional misstatement, concealment, falsification, fabricated evidence, collusive review, deliberate overstatement, or deceptive claim materially affecting project eligibility, verification, issuance, ownership, or claims use.
GEIS Registry. The authoritative legal record maintained or authorized by GEIS for projects, kilogram balances, issuances, transfers, retirements, cancellations, invalidations, and associated metadata.
Inactivation. The reserved status of an annex or pathway that has been drafted into this Protocol but is not yet eligible for issuance.
Invalidation. The removal or cancellation of all or part of a previously issued or recorded quantity because eligibility, evidence, ownership, or claim integrity is no longer reliable.
Mechanical Recycling. A pathway in which plastic waste is physically processed into recycled material without relying on a reserved advanced-recycling pathway.
Monitoring Period. The defined period for which a project compiles monitored data and seeks verification of eligible quantity.
PIC. A Plastic Impact Credit equal to one metric tonne, or 1,000 kilograms, of eligible plastic impact issued under this Protocol.
PIC-C. The active Collection Class under this Protocol.
PIC-MR. The active Mechanical Recycling Class under this Protocol.
Project Description. The formal project design file submitted to GEIS for validation and registration.
Project Proponent. The entity legally responsible for project implementation and compliance under this Protocol.
Regulatory Surplus. The portion of activity that is above and beyond what is already specifically required by law, permit, concession, court order, binding municipal obligation, EPR obligation, or equivalent enforceable duty.
Reserved Annex. A pathway written into this Protocol for future use but not active for issuance unless GEIS formally activates it under the stated activation conditions.
Retirement. The permanent removal of an issued PIC from further transfer, sale, or reuse for the purpose of supporting a completed impact claim.
Sponsorship. Funding or support for project activity, project development, or future issuance that does not by itself constitute retirement or exclusive claim ownership of a PIC.
Tokenized Representation. A digital, blockchain-linked, wrapped, or fractional representation that remains subordinate to the GEIS Registry and is not a replacement for the underlying Registry status.
Validation. Independent assessment of project design before issuance, including applicability, baseline, additionality, regulatory surplus, monitoring design, and implementation readiness.
Verification. Independent assessment of monitored project performance for a stated monitoring period, including quantities, calculations, evidence sufficiency, deductions, and issuance totals.
Verified Plastic Kilogram (VPK). An internal kilogram-level accounting unit that reflects eligible, pathway-specific quantity tracked in the GEIS system; VPK are not tradable credits.
Waste Leakage. The loss of plastic waste into unmanaged or environmentally vulnerable conditions, including littering, dumping, open burning, or escape into waterways, coasts, soils, or other exposed environments.
Zero-Double-Counting Rule. The requirement that the same mass of plastic waste may support only one primary issuance basis under this Protocol and may not be claimed inconsistently across programs or market instruments.
Material Discrepancy. A discrepancy, omission, control failure, or overstatement that could reasonably affect eligibility, quantity, class assignment, issuance, buyer reliance, or the assurance conclusion for the monitoring period.
Methodology Version. The specific approved version of a GEIS pathway or annex that governs project eligibility, quantification, evidence rules, and issuance treatment for the relevant project or monitoring period.
Public Summary. The non-confidential project-level disclosure published or made available by GEIS summarizing project identity, geography, pathway, status, assurance stage, and issued or retired quantities.
Record Retention Period. The minimum period during which project proponents, facilities, validators, verifiers, and GEIS must preserve required records, evidence, workpapers, and related audit trails under this Protocol.
Safeguards. The minimum social, labor, environmental, and community protection requirements that must be satisfied for project registration, continued good standing, and issuance eligibility.
Title and Assignment. The legal ownership of unissued eligible quantities, issued PICs, and any contractual transfer or assignment of those rights recognized in the GEIS Registry or supporting agreements.
3. Core Units, Accounting Architecture, and Issuance Classes
All project activity shall be measured and tracked at the kilogram level. Formal issuance shall occur only in metric-tonne units. One VPK equals one kilogram of eligible plastic impact that has satisfied the applicable evidence and assurance rules for internal accounting. One PIC equals 1,000 VPK.
VPK are internal accounting units only. They are not tradable environmental credits, securities, equity interests, or separate property rights in GEIS, a project, or a facility. Only issued PICs may be sold, transferred, retired, or represented as Plastic Impact Credits under this Protocol.
Safeguards and Social/Environmental Integrity
All projects, facilities, and material downstream handling stages relied upon for issuance shall satisfy minimum safeguards. At minimum, GEIS requires lawful operation, reasonable worker health and safety controls, prohibition of forced labor, prohibition of child labor except where clearly permitted light work is lawful and non-hazardous, and access to a documented grievance channel for workers and affected stakeholders.
Projects shall identify material social and environmental risks at validation stage and disclose how those risks are prevented, mitigated, or managed. GEIS may reject, suspend, or condition registration where credible evidence indicates unsafe working conditions, unlawful dumping, hazardous mismanagement, serious community harm, unlawful wages or contracting practices, coercive collection systems, or environmental harm inconsistent with the claimed plastic impact.
Where the pathway involves hazardous residues, contaminated feedstock, wastewater, emissions, or other potentially harmful outputs, the project shall show lawful and controlled handling. GEIS may require corrective actions, additional monitoring, or exclusion of quantities associated with unresolved safeguard failures.
The two active launch classes are PIC-C and PIC-MR. GEIS may note conceptual similarities to common market distinctions between collection and recycling classes, but GEIS shall not state or imply unit equivalence to any external program unless the specific project, methodology, verifier route, and issuance process satisfy that external program's rules.
Future mapping to an external program shall be treated as a migration pathway rather than as automatic equivalence.
4. Project Types, Eligibility, and Localized Cleanup Rules
This Protocol supports both structured operating systems and localized cleanup projects. A project need not produce one full PIC in a single event. Eligible quantities may accumulate as VPK so long as every quantity remains linked to a registered project, a defined monitoring period, and a verifiable evidence trail.
Localized cleanup activity is eligible only if it still meets the same core tests applied to larger systems: lawful operation, baseline review, additionality review, minimum evidence sufficiency, controlled downstream handling, and no double issuance. Small scale does not excuse weak evidence.
Projects must clearly define geography, waste source profile, implementing entities, downstream route, applicable facilities, ownership rights, and the issuance class being applied.
5. Baseline, Additionality, and Regulatory Surplus
Every project shall identify and evidence the most plausible baseline scenario for the relevant plastic waste in the absence of the project. The baseline must be supported by records, local conditions, stakeholder information, market realities, legal arrangements, or other credible evidence proportionate to the project type.
Additionality shall be assessed at project design stage and revisited when material circumstances change. At minimum, GEIS requires a barrier assessment, common-practice assessment, and economic plausibility assessment proportionate to the pathway. A project that would clearly proceed at the same scale and quality without credit or sponsorship support shall not be treated as fully additional.
Regulatory surplus shall be tested carefully. Projects must identify relevant laws, permits, municipal obligations, concession terms, producer responsibility obligations, and contractual service requirements. Where some portion of the activity is already mandatory, only the clearly documented surplus portion may be eligible.
Where uncertainty remains, GEIS shall apply a conservative deduction or may reject the uncertain quantity entirely.
6. Project Lifecycle, Registration, Validation, and Crediting Period
GEIS distinguishes project validation from performance verification. Validation is the independent assessment of project design before issuance. Verification is the independent assessment of monitored results for a stated monitoring period. Both functions are required unless GEIS explicitly adopts a narrow exception for non-issuing pilot work.
Screening and intake review.
Project Description submission.
Completeness review and requests for clarification.
Independent validation.
Registration decision and assignment of project identifier.
Monitoring period implementation.
Monitoring Report submission.
Independent verification.
Issuance decision.
Registry issuance, transfer if any, and retirement if applicable.
Projects must remain in good standing throughout the lifecycle. Material changes in geography, source mix, ownership, legal status, facility route, monitoring logic, or methodology choice must be reported promptly and may trigger revalidation, corrective action, suspension, or denial of issuance.
Crediting Period Rules
Default crediting period rules apply unless GEIS formally approves a stricter limit in the project registration record. Initial crediting period shall not exceed five years from registration. A single renewal of up to five additional years may be granted only after revalidation of baseline, additionality, regulatory surplus, safeguards, ownership, methodology applicability, and material project changes. A baseline refresh is required at renewal and earlier if law, municipal service coverage, financing structure, source mix, or facility chain changes in a way that could materially affect eligibility or credit quantity. Material methodology revisions may trigger earlier reassessment under Section 14.
7. Facility Approval, Measurement, and Chain of Custody
Any sorting, aggregation, pre-processing, storage, recycling, or downstream handling facility relied upon for issuance must be lawfully authorized for its activity and accepted by GEIS for the applicable pathway. Facility approval is conditional and may be suspended or revoked.
All eligible activity must be organized into uniquely identified batches or equivalent traceable lots. Each batch shall include, at minimum, a batch identifier, project identifier, activity date or date range, source description, quantity records, custody transfer records, downstream route, and supporting proof appropriate to the pathway.
Measurement devices must be fit for purpose and subject to reasonable calibration, maintenance, and tampering controls. Where local measurement occurs in non-metric units, the quantity must be converted into kilograms using documented conversion factors before VPK are recorded.
A broken chain of custody does not automatically invalidate all activity, but GEIS shall not issue PICs for any quantity that cannot be supported by sufficient evidence from source through the qualifying downstream stage for the applicable methodology.
8. VPK Inventory States, Aggregation, and Issuance Integrity
GEIS shall maintain at least the following kilogram-level inventory states: pending, verified, and ineligible or canceled. Pending VPK reflect recorded activity awaiting completion of assurance review. Verified VPK reflect quantities accepted through the applicable workflow and eligible for aggregation toward issuance. Ineligible or canceled balances reflect rejected, invalidated, or removed quantities.
Aggregation is permitted only across verified quantities that share a compatible issuance basis, methodology pathway, and monitoring-period logic. Aggregation must never obscure the identity of underlying projects or the evidence trail needed to trace an issued PIC back to source VPK.
A given kilogram of plastic waste may support only one primary issuance basis under this Protocol. Metadata may record co-benefits or downstream outcomes, but no mass may be issued more than once as a tradable credit.
9. Monitoring, Data Quality, and Evidence Requirements
Each project shall operate under a written monitoring plan identifying data to be collected, responsible personnel, measurement devices, evidence controls, retention periods, anomaly response steps, and escalation triggers.
Minimum evidence categories include quantity evidence, source evidence, location evidence where relevant, chain-of-custody evidence, downstream handling evidence, legal status evidence, and financial or operational evidence needed for additionality and regulatory-surplus review.
Data gaps shall be handled conservatively. Unsupported quantities may be excluded, discounted, or held in pending status until cured. Backfilling by assumption is prohibited unless GEIS guidance expressly permits a conservative fallback rule.
Projects and assurance providers shall retain working files and supporting records for a period set by GEIS that is sufficient to support later audits, disputes, corrections, and migration reviews.
Record Retention, Transparency, and Materiality
Record Retention Period shall be no less than ten years after the end of the relevant monitoring period, or longer where required by law, contract, dispute hold, fraud review, or external program migration. The same minimum applies to project proponents, key facilities, validators, verifiers, and GEIS for records within their control.
GEIS shall maintain or publish a Public Summary for each registered project unless confidentiality restrictions justified by law or legitimate commercial sensitivity require limited redaction. At minimum, the Public Summary shall identify at minimum the project name or identifier, geography, pathway, project proponent, current status, methodology version, monitoring-period status, and issued, transferred, retired, suspended, or invalidated quantities at a level that does not expose protected commercial details.
Discrepancies shall be classified conservatively. An immaterial discrepancy is one that does not indicate fraud or systemic weakness and would not change eligibility or the assurance conclusion, and ordinarily results in correction without re-verification. A material discrepancy is one that could change quantity, class assignment, eligibility, or buyer reliance and shall result in deduction, corrected reporting, expanded testing, or re-verification as GEIS requires. A discrepancy greater than five percent (5%) between reported and verified eligible quantities shall constitute a Major Discrepancy; provided, however, that GEIS may impose a lower Major Discrepancy threshold for higher-risk pathways, project types, activity classes, geographies, feedstock categories, or methodology conditions. Any lower threshold published by GEIS in this Protocol, an applicable annex, pathway-specific guidance, or a program notice shall control for the affected pathway or project class.
Where verified quantities are overstated, GEIS may approve reduced issuance only for the supported quantity if the remaining evidence base is still reliable. GEIS shall require re-verification where the nature of the discrepancy prevents a dependable revised quantity from being established from the available record.
10. Independent Validation and Verification Requirements
GEIS may approve independent validators and verifiers that are not formally approved under an external certification program, but GEIS shall require documented competence, independence, and work-quality standards intended to approximate serious third-party assurance discipline.
No validator or verifier may have a disqualifying financial interest in the project outcome, volume-based compensation tied to issuance quantity, or a role in designing the baseline or issuance calculation that they are reviewing. Independence declarations shall be signed and retained.
Validation shall assess project design, applicability, baseline, additionality, regulatory surplus, monitoring design, facility eligibility, and safeguard readiness. Verification shall assess monitored quantities, evidence sufficiency, calculations, deductions, corrective actions, and proposed issuance totals.
GEIS may require site visits, remote inspections, interviews, sample testing, expanded sampling, peer review, or surprise checks where project risk warrants additional scrutiny.
11. Registry, Serial Integrity, Transfer, and Retirement
The GEIS Registry is the authoritative legal source of truth for project status, VPK balances, issued credits, transfers, retirements, cancellations, invalidations, and core metadata. No token, dashboard, invoice, contract excerpt, or marketing statement can override the Registry.
Every issued PIC shall have a unique serial or equivalent unique identifier linking back to project, class, methodology version, monitoring period, issuance date, quantity, and current status.
Issued PICs may be transferred only if the Registry reflects the transfer and the unit remains active. Retirement permanently removes the PIC from further sale or use and is required before any buyer or sponsor may make a completed impact claim tied to that retired quantity.
Registry fields should be designed so that future migration to an external registry requires remapping rather than reinvention.
Ownership, Title, and Assignment
Unless a documented agreement recognized by GEIS states otherwise, title to unissued eligible project output remains with the registered Project Proponent. Service providers, sponsors, funders, facilities, brokers, or data platforms do not obtain ownership merely by supporting, financing, processing, hosting, or facilitating activity.
Issued PIC title shall be determined by the GEIS Registry and the controlling contractual assignment recognized by GEIS at the time of issuance or transfer. Project proponents seeking issuance must represent and warrant that the claimed quantities are free of competing primary credit claims, undisclosed encumbrances, and unauthorized prior assignments.
GEIS may require assignment notices, revenue-share disclosures, chain-of-title records, or beneficial owner information where multiple entities participate in the project. GEIS may freeze transfer, refuse issuance, or place units into restricted status pending resolution of ownership disputes, conflicting contracts, insolvency events, fraud review, or credible third-party claims.
Sponsorship, pre-purchase, advance funding, or impact support shall not by itself transfer title unless the governing contract expressly assigns such rights and GEIS records the assignment in a form acceptable to the Registry.
12. Claims, Marketing, Sponsorships, and Digital Representations
Claims must be true, specific, and matched to unit status. Active issued PICs may be sold or held. Retired PICs may support a completed impact claim by the retiring party subject to GEIS claims guidance. Pending VPK and sponsorships may support only limited statements that do not overstate exclusivity or completed retirement.
Sponsors may say they funded or supported collection, recycling, project development, or future issuance, but not that they retired PICs unless retirement actually occurred.
GEIS, project proponents, intermediaries, and buyers must not describe GEIS-issued units as certified, approved, or registered under any external program unless that statement is factually correct for the specific unit.
GEIS may authorize fractional interests, wrapped representations, or blockchain-linked display or settlement layers. These instruments remain subordinate to the Registry and do not increase the quantity of credits outstanding. Burning a token without corresponding Registry retirement does not create a valid retirement claim unless GEIS has expressly integrated that burn event into Registry control.
13. Corrections, Grievances, Appeals, and Fraud Response
GEIS may issue corrective actions, place quantities in pending or restricted status, suspend projects or facilities, deny issuance, or invalidate units where evidence, legal compliance, chain of custody, ownership, or claims integrity is unreliable.
GEIS should maintain a documented grievance and appeal process for project proponents, buyers, local stakeholders, and assurance providers. GEIS may also maintain a whistleblower channel for suspected fraud or serious misconduct.
Fraud, fabricated records, collusive review, or material misrepresentation may result in rejection of quantities, invalidation of issued units, removal of approval status, referral to counterparties, or other remedies GEIS deems necessary to protect program integrity.
14. Future External Certification and Migration Pathway
This Protocol is designed so that GEIS can operate now as an independent program and later migrate eligible projects into recognized external certification systems if GEIS elects to do so. Future migration may require use of external templates, approved validators or verifiers, external registry procedures, or methodology-specific revisions.
GEIS may require document updates, class remapping, revalidation, or temporary suspension of GEIS issuance for projects transitioning to another program. GEIS shall prevent double issuance and preserve an auditable chain between historical GEIS records and any later external certification process.
Migration shall be treated as a managed conversion process, not as automatic equivalence.
Methodology Versioning and Transition Rules
Each registered project shall be governed by the Methodology Version identified in its registration record. That version remains controlling for the current crediting period unless this Protocol expressly requires earlier transition because of a material integrity concern, legal conflict, safeguard issue, or activation of a corrective version that GEIS designates as mandatory.
GEIS may publish new methodology versions, clarifications, interpretation notes, or activation notices. Non-material clarifications may apply immediately. Material revisions affecting eligibility, issuance basis, deductions, safeguards, baseline logic, or evidence requirements shall apply no later than project renewal unless GEIS specifies an earlier effective date to protect program integrity.
A project may elect early transition to a newer methodology version only with GEIS approval and any required revalidation. GEIS shall prevent double counting or mixed treatment across methodology versions by fixing the governing version for each monitoring period in the Registry and in the verification record.
Methodology A - Collection Class (PIC-C) [Active]
PIC-C may be issued only for plastic waste physically collected from conditions that present a credible risk of mismanagement, leakage, dumping, or inadequate downstream handling in the baseline scenario. The project must demonstrate that the collection activity and the qualifying controlled downstream handoff are above baseline and above any non-surplus legal obligation.
Applicability Conditions
The waste is plastic waste and is not excluded material under GEIS guidance.
The baseline scenario supports credible risk of mismanagement, leakage, or otherwise inadequate handling.
The collection activity is additional and regulatory-surplus eligible.
The collected mass is documented through sufficient quantity and custody records.
The project can evidence a controlled downstream handoff to approved or otherwise accepted management stages.
The mass is not already counted under another primary issuance basis.
Issuance Basis
PIC-C is based on net eligible collected mass after conservative deduction for contamination, moisture, non-plastic material, unsupported quantities, and any quantity already attributed to another primary issuance basis.
Minimum Evidence Expectations
Collection logs or event logs.
Weight tickets, scale records, or equivalent quantity proof.
Location, route, or source records where relevant.
Receiving, sorting, or custody transfer records.
Media, receipts, and supporting proof proportionate to project risk.
Accepted Downstream Endpoint Categories
For PIC-C, controlled downstream handoff must terminate in one or more endpoint categories accepted by GEIS for the specific project: approved sorting or aggregation, approved mechanical recycling intake, another lawful and controlled management stage documented as part of an active GEIS pathway, or licensed disposal or containment used only where the collection claim is limited to verified recovery from leakage-risk conditions and does not imply recycling.
Export, waste-to-energy, co-processing, chemical conversion, temporary storage, or similar endpoints are not automatically accepted under PIC-C. They may be accepted only if GEIS has expressly authorized the endpoint for the project and the claim language, downstream documentation, and double-counting controls remain consistent with this Protocol and any reserved annex status.
Methodology B - Mechanical Recycling Class (PIC-MR) [Active]
PIC-MR may be issued only for plastic waste that enters a qualifying mechanical recycling pathway through an approved facility chain. For launch purposes under this Protocol, PIC-MR is based on verified net eligible input into approved mechanical recycling, not on output tonnage, unless GEIS later replaces this rule through a formal protocol revision.
Applicability Conditions
The pathway is mechanical recycling, not a reserved advanced-recycling pathway.
The facility chain is approved or otherwise accepted by GEIS for this purpose.
The claimed quantity can be traced through intake and qualifying process entry.
Contamination and unsupported quantities can be identified and deducted conservatively.
The project preserves evidence across sorting, aggregation, and pre-processing handoffs where relevant.
Issuance Basis
Net eligible input means measured incoming plastic waste satisfying pathway rules after deduction of contamination, non-plastic material, unsupported quantities, and any quantity that cannot be reasonably traced into the qualifying recycling process. Rejects, residues, and documented losses do not themselves create a separate issuance right.
Explicit Exclusions
Mere transport, export, resale, or warehousing.
Input that cannot be reasonably traced into the qualifying recycling process.
Material already claimed under another primary issuance basis.
Processes that belong under a reserved advanced-recycling pathway unless and until that annex is activated.
Operational Quantification Rules
Contamination deductions shall be based on direct sorting data, compositional sampling, historical facility data validated for representativeness, or another documented method approved by GEIS. Where contamination cannot be estimated reliably, the quantity shall be discounted conservatively or excluded.
Mixed bales, pooled intake lots, or aggregated deliveries are eligible only if the project preserves a defensible mass-balance trail from intake through qualifying process entry. Batch splits and merges are permitted only when the accounting trail remains reconstructible and the same mass is not simultaneously assigned to multiple claims or pathways.
Rework, re-entry into process, or internal recirculation within the same facility chain shall not create additional eligible quantity beyond the original supported net eligible input. Imported or externally sourced pre-processed material is eligible only if the project can document prior custody and show that the same mass has not already supported another primary issuance basis.
Loss rates, moisture, fines, and unrecoverable residues shall not be credited. Where facility yield or reject information indicates that intake records materially overstate qualifying process entry, GEIS may apply additional deductions, require process-bound evidence, or limit issuance to the lower supported quantity.
Reserved Annex C - Advanced Recycling [Reserved; Not Active for Issuance]
This annex is intentionally reserved for future use. No VPK may be recorded and no PIC may be issued under this annex unless GEIS publishes a formal activation notice.
Mandatory Activation Conditions
A technology-specific methodology is published with clear system boundaries and eligible technology categories.
Environmental performance rules address emissions, residues, hazardous outputs, and any displacement or product-boundary issues relevant to the pathway.
Chain-of-custody and mass-balance requirements are defined with sufficient specificity for independent assurance.
Applicability conditions, exclusions, and issuance basis are fixed rather than left open-ended.
Validator and verifier guidance is published for the pathway.
Registry fields are available to distinguish the pathway from active launch classes.
Reserved Annex D - Reuse and Repurposing [Reserved; Not Active for Issuance]
This annex is reserved for future pathways that may credit durable reuse, repurposing, or long-lived product conversion if GEIS later determines that the pathway can be quantified and governed without overstating environmental impact.
Mandatory Activation Conditions
GEIS publishes a durability standard and minimum service-life requirements.
The methodology defines what qualifies as true reuse or repurposing rather than simple diversion or stockpiling.
Evidence requirements are sufficient to avoid counting temporary or reversible outcomes as durable impact.
Leakage, end-of-life treatment, and double-counting controls are defined.
Reserved Annex E - Pre-processing and Aggregation [Reserved; Not Active for Issuance]
This annex is reserved for future treatment of specialized pre-processing, sorting, densification, aggregation, or related stages that GEIS may later elect to treat as distinct methodology pathways or supplemental issuance logic.
Mandatory Activation Conditions
GEIS defines the boundary between support stages and credit-generating stages.
The methodology prevents double counting between collection, pre-processing, and recycling pathways.
Loss rates, contamination, and custody transitions are explicitly addressed.
Independent assurance guidance is published.
Appendix 1 - Minimum Project Description Contents
Project identity, ownership, and responsible entities.
Geography, source profile, waste types, and pathway selection.
Baseline, additionality, and regulatory-surplus analysis.
Facility chain and downstream route.
Monitoring plan and data controls.
Safeguards, legal status, and material risks.
Requested crediting period and any proposed aggregation logic.
Appendix 2 - Minimum Monitoring Report Contents
Monitoring-period dates and project status.
Summary of batches and quantities.
Calculations and deductions.
Evidence index and storage references.
Facility-chain notes and any material deviations.
Corrective actions, unresolved issues, and requests for issuance.
Appendix 3 - Minimum Verifier Competence Expectations
Demonstrated experience in environmental assurance, waste systems, recycling operations, supply-chain controls, or related fields.
Ability to evaluate baseline, additionality, and regulatory-surplus logic.
Ability to test measurements, calculations, contamination deductions, and chain-of-custody controls.
Independence from project outcome and no disqualifying conflicts.
Appendix 4 - Annex Activation Governance
Reserved annexes remain inactive unless GEIS publishes an activation notice identifying the annex, the effective date, the methodology version being activated, any pilot or geographic limits, the validator and verifier competence requirements, the registry fields and class codes to be used, and the treatment of pre-activation activity. The notice shall also state whether any transition or grandfathering applies and whether additional claims restrictions or disclosure language are required during an initial activation phase.
Until that notice is issued, reserved annexes may be discussed as future pathways only. They shall not be marketed, sold, or represented as active issuance routes.
