The loss of plastic pellets in our ecosystems is unacceptable, but unfortunately can occur at all stages of the value chain despite the application of current standard environmental, safety and quality management controls. The Operation Clean Sweep programme has been developed to help companies address pellet leakage by providing a set of key recommendations and tools.
The first-ever European Pellet Loss Prevention Certification Scheme, which will be operational from February 2023, will further strengthen Operation Clean Sweep by creating harmonised processes and procedures for controlling and documenting pellet losses across the plastics supply chain.
The scheme will enable all current OCS signatories and any other pellet handling entity along the supply chain to assess and quantify their implementation of the OCS pledge. It will set common minimum requirements (based on the six pillars of the OCS pledge), which will be regularly audited by accredited certification bodies. Certified companies will be listed in an online public registry and certification progress will be reported annually, including pellet loss estimates and performance indicators.
The OCS Europe certification scheme has been developed under the guidance and oversight of a multi-stakeholder committee comprising policy makers, certification bodies and industry, with additional recommendations provided through a public consultation. The implementation of the scheme will be monitored and fine-tuned to ensure that it effectively supports the objective of achieving an overall reduction in plastic pellet losses.
