Umwelt | Ressourcen, 07.07.2026

New Certificate Makes Fossil-Free Materials Competitive

PCX Solutions launches financing mechanism to scale up alternative materials

PCX Solutions, a not-for-profit organisation on a mission to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, today launched the Alternative Materials Certificate (AMC), an innovative financing mechanism that aims to reduce fossil-based plastic to tackle the plastic pollution crisis. An AMC is a third-party verified certificate designed to lower the unit cost of more sustainable, alternative materials by closing the price gap to fossil-based plastic.

Sugarcane is a feedstock for alternative materials like bioplastics and bio-based packaging. © Stiven Rivera, Pexels

With the certificate, PCX Solutions provides industries and brands with a market-based incentive to make the switch to 100% fossil-free materials, which is vital to addressing the ~17% of plastic in short-lived products that risk ending up as pollution.

Aimed at eliminating plastic pollution, The Greater Good Diaper Project safely converts used diapers into nutrient-rich soil, while simultaneously generating employment for rural women in communities like S?moa. © The Greater Good

Stefanie Beitien, Managing Director of PCX Solutions says, "At the core of the plastic crisis is a market failure, where fossil-based plastics are artificially cheap because their environmental costs are not priced in. By tackling this structural challenge during production, the AMC makes sustainable alternative materials commercially competitive and ready to scale.”

The certificate is backed by a standard and a data-driven methodology that calculates the real cost of switching to alternative materials by accounting for both the price difference between an alternative material and fossil-based plastic, and the cost of post-consumer recovery to enable full circularity.

PCX Solutions is working with The Greater Good Diaper Project on the first verified application of AMCs to replace fossil-based diapers in the Pacific Islands through their fully circular deliver-collect-compost model with a community-based approach. Diapers are a significant contributor to the plastic waste crisis, with 800 million discarded across the Pacific Islands every year.

Dr Jason Graham-Nye, Co-Founder of The Greater Good says, "Alternative Material Certificates reward the switch to alternative materials by making it financially viable and verifiable. As the first application of this instrument, The Greater Good Diaper Project can now offer a fully compostable diaper and service at the same price as a conventional plastic one.”

The AMC framework involves an ecosystem of buyers, sellers and verification bodies. PCX Solutions manages the standard and issues certificates that are third-party verified.

Buyers of AMCs include brands, retailers and financial institutions looking to fund material transition within or beyond their supply chains, or philanthropic organisations looking to support projects with verified impact.
Sellers of AMCs are producers, transformers, or market facilitators of alternative materials that receive value from AMCs to help scale up production and recovery logistics.

The use of alternative materials in place of fossil-based plastic can reduce ~17 per cent of plastic in short-lived products that risk ending up as pollution, according to a report by the UN Environment Programme. © Clair, Unsplash

The AMC is the outcome of two years of development by PCX Solutions. The process incorporated extensive research and stakeholder consultations with think tanks, industry players, philanthropic organisations, and a public consultation held in May 2026. Following the launch, PCX Solutions is looking to bring more project partners and brands onboard and invites interested businesses or partners to find out more on the website at pcxsolutions.org/AMC.

About PCX Solutions

PCX Solutions is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy and build a future where no plastic ends up in nature.

It was founded by Nanette Medved-Po in 2019 in the Philippines, one of the epicenters of the plastic crisis. Today, PCX Solutions works globally, representing all countries hard hit by plastic pollution. In partnership with governments, businesses, NGOs, local communities and the informal sector, the organisation tackles the plastic issue upstream and downstream, by:

improving local plastic waste management systems through innovative funding mechanisms, capacity building, and standards;
advocating for inclusive and sustainable policies that advance circularity, corporate plastic stewardship, and effective waste management, especially in developing countries; and
delivering independent consulting services and grant-funded projects to scale environmentally-sound solutions that create environmental and socioeconomic benefits.

Learn more at www.pcxsolutions.org.

Kontakt: PCX Solutions Limited, Janissa Ng | janissa.ng@pcxsolutions.org | www.pcxsolutions.org