Submitted Plastic Credits are either approved or rejected in Empower Platform. Rejection can happen for several reasons. If it happens, it's important to read this guide to learn how you can act based on the rejection feedback, and possibly how to re-submit with needed changes.
First, let us reiterate that the Empower Plastic Credit program facilitates support high-impact collection organization and waste collectors. Every requested documentation is key, because this is what the funding parties request prior to acquiring the plastic credits. Empower facilitates and helps you meet those requirements with the approval system. We appreciate your understanding of this.
Below are the steps to check if your Plastic Credits were rejected, and if so, how to re-apply;
Step 1: Identify the rejection
Log into Empower Platform and go to "Plastic credits". Under the tab "In progress", see the column "Status". If a row displays "Rejected", click "View". The rejection reason will then appear at the top.
Step 2: Act on the error, if possible
Below is a list of the most common rejection reasons, along with explanations on why this info is needed and how to fix the lacking info (if able to);
"Lacking pictures"
Proper image documentation is required for plastic credit approval. It gives the needed insight and add quality of the collection effort. Images are needed as they show to the sponsors how their funding was spent. Read more about pictures to upload here.
You can post-upload pictures in Empower Platform by following the steps covered here.
"Lacking registration form" / "Lacking number of collectors"
Most organizations have listed in the "Plastic Credit Impact Form" that a portion of the funding will support individual waste collectors. Therefore, a reference to how many waste collectors are contributing to your collection efforts is required. Please read more about the registration form (or alternative to such) here.
You can post-upload the registration form (or its substitute) in Empower Platform by following the steps covered here.
"Plastic credit impact form is not filled in for this combination of material type and material origin"
This means that you didn't fill an Impact Form for the batch combination of material type and origin previously. Hence, we don't know about the impact of this material batch.
You can fill out the Plastic Credit Impact Form for this combination of material type & origin here
"Lacking material origin"
The material batch's origin wasn't included in any Impact Forms that was filled and approved for your organization.
You can post-include data about the material origin in Empower Platform by following the steps covered here.
"Duplicate"
This means that there are reasons for us to believe that this is a duplicate batch. For example, we might see the exact same combination for material details and files in another batch.
If you disagree with this, reach out to your Empower contact.
Step 3: Re-submit
If you could address the reason of the plastic credit rejection, you can re-submit the batch. After you have completed the changes, go ahead and submit the Plastic Credits batch again. We will review the documentation once again to see if sufficient documentation is now provided.