Plastic Impact Protocol™ Version 4.4

A Published, Versioned, and Auditable Standard for Plastic Credit Governance

The Plastic Impact Protocol™ is the governing standard created and issued by Global Environmental Impact Solutions, LLC for the registration, verification, issuance, transfer, retirement, and claim governance of Plastic Impact Credits.

Version 4.4 is the active Protocol version. It is effective May 2026, patent pending, and issued by Global Environmental Impact Solutions, LLC, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business registered on SAM.gov.

This Protocol is not a marketing framework. It is the controlling standard for how GEIS governs plastic impact activity, verifies eligible plastic recovery, issues Plastic Impact Credits, controls Registry records, manages secondary-market transfers, and restricts the claims that buyers, sponsors, market participants, and other parties may make.

What the Plastic Impact Protocol™ Governs

The Plastic Impact Protocol™ governs how GEIS:

• Registers plastic impact projects

• Defines eligible and ineligible project activity

• Validates project design before issuance

• Monitors project activity and evidence

• Verifies reported plastic impact

• Issues Plastic Impact Credit™s

• Controls ownership, transfer, and burn records

• Governs secondary-market activity

• Restricts claims, sponsorship language, marketing statements, and impact attributions

• Maintains Registry controls to prevent double counting, double claiming, unsupported issuance, and unverifiable environmental claims

The Protocol controls over subordinate GEIS materials, including technical specifications, dApp interfaces, Registry interfaces, token systems, marketing materials, partner documents, claim templates, and external summaries.

What a Plastic Impact Credit™ Represents

One Plastic Impact Credit™, or PIC, represents one metric tonne of verified eligible plastic impact issued under the Plastic Impact Protocol™.

One PIC equals 1,000 Verified Plastic Kilograms™, or VPK.

VPK are internal kilogram-level accounting units. They are not tradeable, are not minted on-chain, and are not displayed as whole credits. Residual kilograms below 1,000 kg remain in the Registry and may carry forward, but they are not rounded up or issued as credits. This prevents inflated issuance and ensures that every issued Plastic Impact Credit™ is tied to verified eligible plastic impact.

The GEIS Registry™ Is the Authoritative Legal Record

The GEIS Registry™ is the authoritative legal record for all projects, verified kilograms, Plastic Impact Credit™ issuance, transfers, burns, cancellations, invalidations, and related metadata. All other representations are subordinate to the Registry.

This includes:

• Tokens

• Dashboards

• Certificates

• Claim packages

• Secondary-market interfaces

• Marketing materials

• Partner or reseller systems

• Any other digital or public-facing representation

If there is ever a conflict between the GEIS Registry™ and any token, dashboard, certificate, interface, or other representation, the Registry controls.

Token Burn Does Not Equal Legal Retirement Unless the Registry Acts First

The Protocol does not treat a token burn alone as a valid credit retirement. A burn is valid only when the GEIS Registry™ first sets the corresponding units to the proper retired or partial-burn status. The on-chain burn is the final action, not the first action.

Before any on-chain burn is completed, the Registry must confirm the unit status, complete the Burn Attribution Calculation™, generate and lock the Burn Attribution Record™, execute Evidence Partitioning™, and generate the Claim Package™. This structure is designed to protect corporate buyers, prevent unsupported claims, and ensure that impact claims attach only through the Registry-governed process.

Holding a Credit Is Not the Same as Making an Impact Claim

Holding a Plastic Impact Credit™ does not automatically create an environmental claim. Transferring a Plastic Impact Credit™ does not automatically create an environmental claim. Owning or holding a tokenized representation of a Plastic Impact Credit™ does not automatically create an environmental claim. A valid impact claim attaches only after the proper Registry-governed burn process is completed and the burning party receives the applicable claim documentation.

This distinction is central to the Protocol.

A party may hold or transfer Plastic Impact Credit™s without being entitled to claim plastic recovery, plastic neutrality, environmental benefit, sponsorship impact, or any other public impact representation unless the Protocol’s claim rules have been satisfied.

Hybrid Claim Architecture™

The Protocol includes GEIS’s Hybrid Claim Architecture™, which governs how impact claims are attributed to a burning party after Plastic Impact Credit™s are retired. At burn, the Registry performs the Burn Attribution Calculation™ and generates a Burn Attribution Record™. This record assigns the burning party its proportional share of the underlying verified plastic impact.

A Claim Package™ may include:

• A Legal Burn Certificate

• An Attribution Summary

• A Burn Attribution Record™

• A curated Evidence Package

• Registry references

• Supporting documentation for the permitted claim

This architecture is designed to create specific, evidenced, non-duplicative, and legally grounded impact claims.

Active Issuance Classes

Plastic Impact Protocol™ v4.4 recognizes the following active issuance classes:

PIC-C™: Collection Class

For eligible plastic collection activity that satisfies the Protocol’s requirements for source category, evidence, measurement, chain of custody, downstream handling, validation, verification, and Registry controls.

PIC-MR™: Mechanical Recycling Class

For eligible mechanical recycling activity supported by approved facilities, measurement records, intake documentation, downstream controls, and verification.

PIC-T™: Treegens / Tier 4 Coastal International Class

For qualifying international coastal and waterway plastic collection activity, subject to per-nation qualification, safeguards, monitoring, verification, and International Expansion Pathway requirements. Certain future pathways are reserved behind Hard Gates and are not active for issuance unless GEIS publishes a formal activation notice under the Protocol. These include advanced recycling, reuse and repurposing, pre-processing and aggregation, plastic avoidance, and biodegradable processing pathways.

Excluded Launch Pathways

The Protocol excludes certain pathways unless and until a qualifying annex or formal activation process applies.

Excluded or restricted pathways include:

• Plastic-to-fuel conversion or open-burning avoidance without qualifying controlled downstream proof

• Export or shipment alone, regardless of destination or supporting documentation

• Co-processing in cement kilns or waste-to-energy incineration, unless a dedicated annex is activated with the required emissions, environmental performance, and chain-of-custody methodology

• Any activity already fully counted under another plastic-credit, waste-credit, or materially similar environmental instrument

• Home composting or unverified soil incorporation under biodegradable processing unless the applicable reserved annex is formally activated and satisfied

Designed to Address Structural Failures in the Plastic Credit Market

The Plastic Impact Protocol™ was built in response to documented structural failures in the plastic credit market.

The Protocol directly addresses issues such as:

• Additionality failure

• Pre-existing activity being credited

• Volume-based auditor conflicts

• Weak or missing chain of custody

• Double counting

• Phantom credits

• Unsupported certificates

• Incineration or co-processing being described as recycling

• Token burn being treated as legal retirement without Registry confirmation

• Lack of individual-level evidence

• Unverifiable weight claims

• Missing GPS-confirmed collection data

• Weak safeguards

• No clear claim attribution controls

• No secondary-market governance

• No regulatory surplus or EPR testing

GEIS built the Protocol so that plastic impact claims are tied to documented evidence, verified quantities, Registry controls, and controlled claim language.

Evidence, Monitoring, and Chain of Custody

The Protocol is evidence-first. Depending on the applicable methodology, eligible activity may require:

• Project registration records

• Collection or intake records

• Source category classification

• GPS-confirmed activity data

• Photo or video evidence

• Individual Participant Records

• Weight tickets or certified scale records

• Facility intake documentation

• Custody Transfer Records

• Field-to-Facility Weight Reconciliation

• Monitoring Reports

• Independent validation

• Independent verification

• Registry status controls

Ad-hoc downstream destinations are prohibited. Facilities relied upon for issuance must be lawfully authorized and accepted by GEIS for the applicable pathway. This ensures that plastic impact is not based only on self-reported numbers or unsupported statements.

Validation and Verification

The Protocol separates validation from verification. Validation is the independent assessment of project design before issuance. It reviews the project’s eligibility, baseline, additionality, regulatory surplus, safeguards, and methodology applicability. Verification is the independent assessment of monitored performance before credits are issued. It reviews the reported quantities, supporting evidence, chain-of-custody records, monitoring data, and evidence sufficiency. Both are required before Plastic Impact Credits may be issued.

Additionality, Baseline, and Regulatory Surplus

Every project must identify the most plausible baseline scenario. Additionality must be assessed at the project design stage through, at minimum:

• Barrier assessment

• Common-practice assessment

• Economic plausibility assessment

The Protocol also requires regulatory surplus testing. Only the clearly documented portion of activity above what is already required by law, permit, court order, binding municipal obligation, Extended Producer Responsibility obligation, or equivalent enforceable duty may be eligible. If a new or expanded EPR obligation affects a registered project’s credited activity, the project proponent must notify GEIS within the required timeframe, and GEIS may require a baseline refresh, regulatory surplus reassessment, or suspension of affected issuance.

Safeguards and Social / Environmental Integrity

The Protocol includes minimum safeguards for lawful operation, worker health and safety, prohibition of forced labor, child labor restrictions, grievance access, and community consultation. Projects operating in or adjacent to residential communities must document community notification and provide a reasonable opportunity for affected parties to raise concerns before validation is completed. For international projects, additional safeguards apply, including local labor-law compliance, culturally and legally appropriate community consultation, participant-accessible grievance channels, and reasonable worker health and safety controls. For projects involving indigenous peoples, tribal communities, or local communities with recognized customary land rights, the Protocol requires Free, Prior, and Informed Consent when applicable.

Secondary Market Governance

Plastic Impact Protocol™ v4.4 includes Secondary Market Architecture for Market Participant Accounts. A Market Participant Account may acquire, hold, and transfer Plastic Impact Credits in the secondary market without burning them. However, a Market Participant does not receive impact claim rights merely by holding credits.

The Protocol prohibits Market Participants from making plastic impact claims, plastic-neutrality claims, or environmental representations based on holding alone.

Secondary-market governance includes:

• Registry-controlled transfer rules

• Market Participant Accounts

• Transfer fee requirements

• Lot standardization

• Price transparency

• Holding period governance

• Annual attestations

• Regulatory threshold disclosures

• Restrictions against off-Registry transactions

• Restrictions against selling expired, invalidated, or frozen units

This structure is designed to support liquidity while preserving Registry control and claim integrity.

Why This Matters for Corporate Buyers

Corporate buyers need more than a certificate. They need a claim that can be documented, explained, audited, and defended. The Plastic Impact Protocol™ provides a structured framework for:

• Verified plastic impact

• Registry-controlled retirement

• Evidence-backed attribution

• Legally controlled claim language

• Anti-double-counting controls

• Anti-double-claiming controls

• Independent validation and verification

• Chain-of-custody documentation

• Controlled transfer and burn records

• Claim Package™ generation after retirement

This helps buyers avoid unsupported sustainability claims and ensures that public-facing environmental statements are connected to the Registry, the evidence, and the Protocol.

Why This Matters for Project Developers, MRFs, and Partners

For project developers, cleanup organizations, recycling partners, and Materials Recovery Facilities, the Protocol creates a clear pathway for documented plastic recovery activity to become verified plastic impact. The Protocol defines what must be collected, measured, documented, validated, verified, and recorded before credits can be issued. This allows GEIS partners to participate in a structured system built around real evidence, controlled downstream destinations, and auditable Registry records.

Legal and Claim Integrity Notice

The Plastic Impact Protocol™ governs the conditions under which Plastic Impact Credits may be issued, transferred, burned, retired, displayed, referenced, or used to support an environmental claim. No party may claim plastic impact, plastic neutrality, sponsorship impact, environmental benefit, or credit retirement merely by holding, purchasing, transferring, displaying, or referencing Plastic Impact Credits, related tokens, or related Registry entries. Valid claims are limited to those permitted by the Protocol and supported by the applicable Registry status, Burn Attribution Record™, Evidence Partition Record™, Claim Package™, and GEIS-approved claim language.

This webpage provides a summary only. The complete Plastic Impact Protocol™ v4.4 contains the full governing rules, definitions, methodologies, safeguards, Registry controls, claim restrictions, secondary-market provisions, conformance rules, appendices, and source citations. For complete legal, technical, operational, and claim-governance requirements, download the full Protocol above.

Plastic Impact Protocol™ v4.4

Issued by: Global Environmental Impact Solutions, LLC

Effective: May 2026

Status: Active

Patent Status: Patent Pending

Issuer Status: Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business; Wyoming LLC; SAM.gov registered

Core Standard: Published, versioned, and auditable

Primary Function: Governing standard for plastic impact verification, Plastic Impact Credit™ issuance, Registry control, transfer, burn, claim attribution, and secondary-market governance.