PCX CEO Sebastian DiGrande: Solving the Plastic Waste Crisis with a Scalable Market for Plastic Credits

PCX has one of the most innovative and exciting solutions to one of the biggest environmental issues of our generation, plastic pollution.?

I sat down with @PCX’s CEO and BCG alum Sebastian DiGrande to learn more about PCX’s plastic waste solutions and his journey in sustainability.

This interview is the second in a new “Deep Dive” series for ESG & Climate News subscribers. I hope you learn as much about the challenges and solutions for plastic waste as I did in this conversation.

I’d love to start off with maybe a little bit more about your personal journey and what lands you now with PCX.

Sebastian: “After a 20-year career at BCG and time as a corporate executive, I reached a point where I wanted to focus on something more purpose-driven. I was introduced to the founder of PCX, who was working on scaling a small project in the Philippines to tackle the global plastic waste crisis with a mission to prevent plastic from entering nature. Given my love for scuba diving and being outdoors, the mission really resonated. Seeing the opportunity for scalable impact, I got excited and decided to focus this next chapter of my career on this mission.”

How big is the plastic problem - and why has it gotten so bad?

Sebastian: “A massive amount of plastic has been produced since the 1950s – around 9 billion metric tons, and it keeps growing. Only about 9% of that has been recycled, with the majority ending up either landfilled or incinerated. If production continues on the current trajectory, in the next 25 years, we’re looking at an additional 17 billion metric tons. The crisis is rooted in plastic’s affordability and utility – it’s an amazing material that’s cheap to produce but at enormous environmental costs. We need solutions both to curb production and to manage the waste sustainably."

Tell me more about PCX and your approach to the plastics problem.

Sebastian: “At PCX, our approach is based on creating scalable, market-driven solutions to ensure essential funding reaches the right players in waste management, both upstream and downstream. Our solution is a marketplace for plastic credits—verified, transparent, and accessible. Each credit represents a ton of plastic waste collected and managed responsibly. Corporations can support these credits, creating an immediate impact through plastic diversion and driving longer-term investments in waste management infrastructure. We’ve seen a similar shift in the energy sector, where solar and wind became competitive with fossil fuels through the right market incentives. We believe we can replicate that in plastics, building a sustainable model to tackle this crisis.”

Plastic credits are a relatively new funding tool and a nascent sector. How do they work - and how do they differ from carbon credits?

Sebastian: “Plastic credits function similarly to carbon credits but are, in my view, more verifiable because plastic is a physical material that we can track and measure precisely. One credit equates to one metric ton of plastic waste collected and responsibly processed from collection to recycling. Projects undergo rigorous third-party audits and accreditation, and when a company purchases these credits, they’re funding direct waste diversion. It’s a market-based solution designed to ensure that financial resources flow to areas most impacted by plastic pollution, which we desperately need if we want to build scalable solutions.”

Critics argue that plastic credits could become a loophole, allowing companies to sidestep meaningful reductions in upstream plastic production. Does that argument hold any weight?

Sebastian: "We absolutely support efforts to reduce plastic production – it’s essential. But the reality is that production won’t stop tomorrow. And even with a 40% reduction by 2050, we will still produce another 11B metric tons of plastic that needs to be responsibly managed. Using credits creates an economic incentive for companies to explore alternatives, as we see in places like the Philippines. By requiring companies to account for their plastic footprint, they’re pushed to close that cost gap between virgin and recycled materials. It’s not a silver bullet, but plastic credits provide a necessary tool for immediate impact and lay the foundation for longer-term transitions away from plastic dependency.”

A lot of the focus has been on climate change and tackling carbon, but some might not realize the links between the plastic crisis and the climate crisis. Talk about how they’re interconnected.

Sebastian: "Absolutely, these issues are interconnected. Plastic production alone accounts for about 5% of global carbon emissions today, a number expected to increase substantially by 2050. As a petroleum byproduct, plastic not only generates emissions during production but also impacts carbon sinks like oceans. Plastic waste in the ocean disrupts ecosystems, affecting biodiversity and hindering natural carbon sequestration. Addressing plastic pollution is, therefore, a climate action because it protects these natural systems essential for carbon absorption.”

There’s a UN treaty in the works. Negotiators are meeting in Busan in November to finalize it. How will a global plastic treaty be implemented - and what are the biggest challenges?

Sebastian: “There’s significant momentum behind the UN Global Plastics Treaty, which is progressing much faster than the equivalent carbon treaties. We’re preparing for the fifth session (INC-5) in Busan, where the treaty aims to set frameworks for reducing plastic production, eliminating toxic chemicals, and establishing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws. But the challenges are substantial. Nations must align on a regulatory structure that allows for both upstream production cuts and downstream waste management. In many developing nations, building out waste management infrastructure isn’t prioritized due to limited resources. Market mechanisms, like plastic credits, can bridge that gap by enabling private funding to support these nations while they meet more immediate needs like food and education.”