How CleanHub Plastic Credits Work: A Step-by-Step Guide

CleanHub’s social impact is more solid than plastic.

Plastic pollution is a global crisis, but the solution starts with local action. At Tangie, we partner with CleanHub to ensure our business leaves a positive footprint on the planet. Through a high-tech “Plastic Credit” system, CleanHub intercepts non-recyclable plastic in high-risk coastal regions before it ever reaches the ocean.

Every purchase you make funds the collection and ethical disposal of ocean-bound waste, verified by AI-driven tracking and independent audits. We don’t just guess our impact; we prove it. By shifting from a “take-make-waste” model to a verified recovery system, we are cleaning the coasts of Indonesia, India, and beyond, one kilogram at a time. Dive in to see how we turn your sustainable choices into a cleaner, bluer future.

Historically, the plastic waste industry has had many small and informal players, with many people working in this “dirty” sector being marginalized and poorly treated by society. CleanHub aims to respect the dignity of people working along waste streams in the regions of the global south where these green tech startups operate.

Being committed to the social justice needed alongside environmental protection, the company influences and helps fund social change, through partnering with local waste management partners to pay fairer wages to some of the lowest paid, legally due health and other social insurances, and stable work formality in safer workplaces.

What Is CleanHub?

CleanHub is an environmental services company founded in 2019 and based in Berlin, Germany, with a mission to end plastic pollution by preventing waste from ever reaching our oceans.

More than 2 billion people around the globe are currently facing the challenge of inadequate access to essential waste management services, as reported by the United Nations. CleanHub is focused on tackling plastic pollution through effective waste management strategies. By collaborating with businesses and local communities, it establishes networks for collecting, sorting, and recycling plastics.

Advocating for a circular economy, CleanHub encourages upcycling and responsible behaviors, empowering participants to take significant steps against plastic waste. With a vision for a cleaner future, the organization promotes environmental responsibility and works together on projects that support a sustainable planet.

This critical issue affects communities in both urban and rural areas, leading to serious environmental and public health concerns. Many individuals in these regions lack the infrastructure necessary to properly dispose of waste, resulting in pollution, unsanitary conditions, and a degradation of natural resources.

CleanHub is a global platform that prevents plastic from ever reaching our oceans. While many organizations focus on “ocean cleanups” (skimming plastic once it’s already in the water), CleanHub focuses on interception.

By leveraging technology, collaboration, and community engagement, CleanHub aims to create a clean and healthy environment for all, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their location, can effectively manage their waste. This includes initiatives that focus on recycling, waste reduction, and education to empower communities to take charge of their wasteManagement practices.

Did you know? To date, CleanHub has helped collect over 14 million kilograms of plastic waste, and Tangie is proud to be part of that total.

In 2021, CleanHub introduced its digital platform for waste traceability, enabling comprehensive monitoring of plastic collection activities. This software tracks each kilogram of waste from the moment of collection until its verified disposal.

Utilizing QR codes, mobile data input, geo-data, and a blockchain-like logging mechanism, the platform supports third-party audits and allows for real-time tracking. That same year, in June, CleanHub secured nearly €4 million in a seed funding round, backed by Lakestar Ventures and 468 Capital.

The company has implemented an AI-driven automated tracking system that records each collection through a track-and-trace mechanism. Each step involves uploading photos, which the AI analyzes for weight, condition, and GPS data. This system enhances the documentation and monitoring processes associated with plastic waste recovery.

In January 2023, Louis Pfitzner joined as co-CEO, marking CleanHub as the first ISO-Certified plastic credit system to achieve verification by prominent environmental impact auditing firms, including TÜV SÜD, in accordance with the ISO 14064-3 standard. This certification was set to be renewed in January 2025.

Through a network of so-called “CleanHubs” in coastal hotspots, CleanHub partners with local waste-collection organizations to provide door-to-door or on-site (beach and riverbank) plastic collection services.

By creating safe, dignified jobs with fair pay, these hubs intercept plastic at its source and ensure it is sorted either for recycling or for use as alternative fuel, keeping it out of landfills, open burns, and natural environments

CleanHub employs proprietary tracking technology, verified under ISO 14064-3:2020 by TÜV SÜD, to digitally verify every kilogram of plastic collected in real time. Brands and individuals can calculate their plastic footprint, subscribe to collection plans, and transparently follow the impact of their contributions via live dashboards and weekly updates. To date, CleanHub has helped collect over 14 million kilograms of plastic waste and partnered with more than 500 brands, advancing toward a vision of “plastic neutrality,” where every kilogram of new plastic produced is matched by a kilogram permanently removed from vulnerable environments

CleanHub prides itself on doing robust, honest work, investing in deep worker human rights conditions assessment baselines, then ongoingly engaging to drive real social impacts (e.g., to SDG 8 for Decent Work).

CleanHub’s approach is grounded in social as well as environmental impact. By working with local waste managers, they establish long-term waste-management infrastructure, empower communities through education and fair employment, and discourage the open burning or dumping of plastic.

In helping improve waste worker livelihoods, we help our partners actively help remove social bias historically associated with waste collection and processing activities, and deliver improved livelihoods.

When you buy from a company, like Tangie, that gives profits towards the ethical treatment of workers while helping to keep plastic waste from entering the oceans, you can feel good about the purchases you make that help clean your home, your body or your pet while keeping the flow going in the right direction!

When people are treated equally for pay, have safe workplaces, and have a chance for improvement in their lives, our global society becomes a better place.  When the planet has less trash floating in it, and our water sources are cleaner, you have a healthier future ahead. These changes are beneficial ripples that reach far into the generations ahead of you.

What Does CleanHub Do & What Is Their “Theory of Change”?

CleanHub’s strategy is based on both social and environmental impacts. By collaborating with local waste management teams, they create sustainable waste management systems, empower communities through education and fair job opportunities, and prevent the open burning or disposal of plastic.

Their “Theory of Change” focuses on collective action, integrating brand collaborations, technological transparency, and community involvement, to promote systemic enhancements in global waste management and protect oceans for future generations.

Feature	Your Benefit
Plastic Neutrality	For every gram of plastic we use, CleanHub removes an equivalent amount from the environment.
Verified Impact	You can see exactly where the waste was collected through our live impact dashboard.
Social Justice	Your purchase funds dignified jobs and fair wages for waste workers in developing communities.
Healthier Oceans	Less plastic in the water means less microplastic in our food chain and a safer habitat for marine life.

Establishing Local “CleanHubs”

In regions with a high risk of mismanaged plastic waste, particularly coastal communities across Asia and Africa, CleanHub either builds its own collection centers or partners with existing local operators.

These CleanHubs coordinate door-to-door collection services as well as targeted beach and riverbank clean-ups, creating safe, dignified jobs with fair pay for local workers and ensuring plastic is intercepted before it can pollute the environment

Tracking & Verifying Every Kilogram Collected

Each piece of collected plastic is weighed, sorted, and digitally logged through CleanHub’s proprietary tracking platform. This system has been ISO 14064-3:2020-verified by TÜV SÜD, providing brands and individuals with real-time, auditable proof of their contributions to plastic recovery, often referred to as a “plastic credit” model.

Empowering Brand Partnerships

Over 300 global brands have signed up to offset their plastic footprint by funding CleanHub’s collection efforts. Through API integrations, Shopify apps, or subscription plans, businesses can automatically match every product sold with a corresponding quantity of plastic collected, and then share their verified impact with customers via live dashboards and marketing collateral

How Does CleanHub’s Plastic Credit Work?

Plastic credits are a simple but powerful way to fight plastic pollution, especially in countries where waste management systems are weak or missing. They allow individuals or businesses to take responsibility for their plastic use by funding the collection of plastic waste from the environment.

The Financial Transaction

Brands pay for impact: A company calculates its annual plastic footprint (e.g., 10 tons of plastic packaging).

Purchasing credits: The brand pays CleanHub to remove an equivalent weight of plastic from the environment. Each “credit” typically represents one metric ton of recovered plastic.

Funding operations: CleanHub directs this money to local waste management partners in regions like India, Indonesia, and Tanzania. This funding makes it financially viable for these partners to collect non-recyclable plastic, which otherwise has no market value and would be left to enter the ocean.

The Verification Process (Track & Trace)

CleanHub uses an AI-powered digital audit trail to ensure every gram of plastic paid for actually leaves the environment:

Collection: Workers collect waste door-to-door or from the environment.

Digital Logging: Collection teams use the CleanHub app to upload photos of the waste, record GPS coordinates, and log the exact weight at the point of collection and at the processing site.

AI Validation: An AI system cross-references these photos and data points to detect fraud or “double-counting,” ensuring the weight and material match the claims.

ISO Certification: Independent auditors (like TÜV SÜD) verify the entire process under ISO 14064-3 standards to guarantee the credits represent real-world impact.

The Result

End-of-Life Processing: Collected plastic undergoes sorting. Recyclables enter the circular economy, while non-recyclables usually go to co-processing (used as energy in cement kilns), preventing them from ever reaching the water.

Impact Reporting: The brand receives a verified certificate and access to a live dashboard. This data allows them to claim “Plastic Neutrality” or demonstrate specific recovery goals to their customers.

CleanHub’s Process To Manage Waste

In most developing countries, formal and informal waste management systems co-exist. While formal systems are governed by labor laws and have worker benefits and safety protocols, informal systems have historically been characterized by worker exploitation and a lack of labor laws and safety protocols.

Cleanhub guides their partners on the ground towards compliance with their international industry standard Code of Conduct that was built on fundamental UN ILO Conventions (International Labor Organization) as summarized by three leading international worker rights non-profits, and informs our commitment to using our buying engagement power to influence respect for human rights:

• The UK Ethical Trade Initiative’s Base Code, created by trade unions, non-profits, and businesses together, which in particular requires respect
  for workers’ human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and real living wages.
• The Social Accountability International’s SA8000 Code, which, in addition to the above, guides good social management systems
• The USA’s Fair Labor Association is also strong on safety guidance.

CleanHub is proud to have been influencing improvements to more and more partner sites. They work to influence that if any workers were not paid all legal minimum wage rates (sometimes an issue at very small sites before our partnership begins), then this is improved, that all social insurances are eventually paid, that workers are given proper contracts, policies improved to respect worker rights and that holistic safety improvements are made on-site.

Small improvements like these can make a massive difference in the livelihoods of waste collectors and sorters, who are often women, parents, or marginalized youth. Ensuring people are paid legal minimum wages and all benefits and have proper contracts and registration in government social security systems is better than charity: it’s about dignity, empowerment, and fairer chances for all.

Independent worker rights

CleanHub’s social assessments and engagement are led by experienced, independent worker, rights-focused local experts. The site Social Assessors and
Standards advisors CleanHub has commissioned, worked with, and in: 

• ILO Better Work program 
• Human Rights Watch 
• The Ethical Trading Initiative 
• HERProject 
• The World Bank  
• Smaller worker welfare organizations like Handshake.  

They have deep experience with the issue of falsification of wages and hours records in the industry of “social audit” of large apparel and other manufacturing sites.  Whilst less risk in the waste sector, Social Audit visits are nevertheless designed carefully towards gaining transparency and helping our Supplier Partners improve with Coaching so that they stay honest about their challenges before and while working with CleanHub. 

Tangie is a proud partner of CleanHub and the work they do to improve and establish local waste management facilities around the globe to keep ocean-bound plastic waste from ever entering our shared oceans.  

Reducing waste is important, but taking care of people and their work conditions is the highest priority. Read more about that HERE.