Not-for-profit organisation PCX Solutions has launched the Alternative Materials Certificate (AMC), a third-party verified financing mechanism designed to make fossil-free materials commercially competitive with conventional plastic.
The certificate works by closing the price gap between alternative materials and fossil-based plastics. Its methodology accounts for both the cost difference between the two material types and the cost of post-consumer recovery needed to enable full circularity. Certificates are issued by PCX Solutions and verified by independent third parties.
“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,” said Stefanie Beitien, Managing Director of PCX Solutions. “The AMC makes sustainable alternative materials commercially competitive and ready to scale.”
The framework connects buyers, including brands, retailers, financial institutions and philanthropic organisations, with sellers such as producers and market facilitators of alternative materials. Buyers fund material transitions within or beyond their supply chains; sellers use the certificate value to scale production and recovery logistics.
The first verified application of AMCs involves The Greater Good Diaper Project, which is working to replace fossil-based diapers in the Pacific Islands through a circular deliver-collect-compost model. Around 800 million diapers are discarded across the Pacific Islands each year.
“The Greater Good Diaper Project can now offer a fully compostable diaper and service at the same price as a conventional plastic one,” said Dr Jason Graham-Nye, Co-Founder of The Greater Good.
The AMC is the result of two years of development, incorporating stakeholder consultations with industry, think tanks and philanthropic organisations, as well as a public consultation held in May 2026.
