Stakeholder Participation Guidelines. One set of rules, for everyone.

The MPRS is a donation-funded scheme in which every tonne of plastic is verified from generation to recycled material. For each verified batch a certificate is issued to MARE Foundation, recording the batch’s weight in kilograms, and MARE retires certificates against the donations it receives. The value of each certificate is shared under fixed, published rules. Participation is open, but conditional: every participant must meet the criteria below before joining, and must keep meeting them to remain.

There are two kinds of participant.

The guidelines cover every role in the chain:

• Generators: individuals (post-consumer plastic) and companies (post-industrial plastic) whose plastic enters the scheme.
• Bin Custodians: the organisation responsible for a collection bin or collection point, whether a Scheme Partner or a private company such as a waste management company.
• Haulers: those transporting plastic between points in the chain, whether a Scheme Partner or a private haulier.
• Processors/Recyclers: the operators that process verified plastic and confirm completion of each batch, across any stream, from valuable plastics such as PET, HDPE and PP to mixed rigids, film, and marine and fishing-gear plastic.

1. Legal standing and good conduct. The applicant is lawfully constituted, holds the permits and licences its activity requires in Malta (or its jurisdiction of operation), and is not subject to proceedings that would call its participation into question. Evidence: registration documents, applicable permits, declarations of good standing.
2. Full participation in workflow verification. The participant completes its step in the chain on the scheme’s verification infrastructure, operated by Carrot: chain-of-custody records at every hand-off, weights for mass-balance reconciliation, and confirmation of its own completed step. A participant that cannot or will not evidence its step cannot take part.
3. Truthful declaration of origin. Where the participant generates or collects a batch, it provides Proof of Origin. Declarations are reconciled across the chain against the records of the other participants.
4. Disclosure of relationships with the Foundation. Every applicant must declare, at application and on any later change, any connection to a MARE Foundation founder, administrator, Supervisory Council member or related entity. Non-disclosure of a relationship is itself grounds for exclusion. Disclosure does not disadvantage an applicant; it applies the safeguards in section 08.
5. Acceptance of published rules. Shares are set per role under the published methodology and are not negotiable bilaterally. No participant may seek, and the Foundation will not grant, individually negotiated terms.
6. Cooperation with audit. The participant accepts independent audit of the scheme flows it takes part in, and retains its records for reconciliation.
7. Mission compatibility. The participant’s involvement must advance, and must not undermine, the scheme’s purpose of making every kind of plastic count in Malta.

Scheme Partners are the non-profit organisations that carry out the scheme’s collection and transport work. A private company or an individual cannot be a Scheme Partner.

What every Scheme Partner must meet

1. Non-profit status. The applicant is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation whose constitution prohibits the distribution of its income or assets to private persons. Evidence: statute, registration and, where applicable, enrolment as a Voluntary Organisation in Malta or equivalent recognition elsewhere.
2. Aligned environmental mission. A demonstrable environmental mission consistent with the scheme’s purpose in Malta and the Mediterranean.
3. Capability for the role. A Bin Custodian runs managed collection points with batch-level logging, so origin is verified where plastic is gathered rather than declared afterwards. A Hauler provides weighbridge or equivalent weight evidence and unbroken custody records between receipt and delivery.
4. Safe handling. Safe-handling practices for volunteers and staff appropriate to the plastic collected, including marine and beach collection.
5. Plastic stays in the chain. No sale of scheme-collected plastic outside the verified chain.
6. Written designation. The organisation is designated by MARE in writing as a Scheme Partner for the roles it performs.

What Scheme Partners receive

A Scheme Partner receives a Reward for each Bin Custodian or Hauler role it performs on a verified batch, at the fixed published share for that role. A Reward that is waived, or that cannot be paid because onboarding has not been completed in time, goes to the NGO Fund. Every Scheme Partner is represented on the board that governs the NGO Fund (section 07).

MARE Foundation itself participates as a Scheme Partner on identical terms to any other, with no special treatment. Rewards received by MARE are reported separately in the Foundation’s annual report.

Companies and individuals take part in the chain without payment. Their step is recorded and verified exactly like any other, because a batch cannot be certified without it. The share that would correspond to their role is redirected to the NGO Fund or the Community Fund.

Taking part as an unpaid Chain Actor confers no entitlement to any share of a certificate’s value, now or in the future.

The share attached to each role is the same for every certificate. Who performs the role decides only where that share is paid.

Order of settlement

1. Carrot’s service fee for verification and settlement is deducted.
2. Rewards are paid to the Scheme Partners entitled to them.
3. The Generator share is paid into the Community Fund.
4. The remaining role shares are paid into the NGO Fund.

The percentage for each role will be published once agreed with Carrot and approved by the Foundation’s Board of Administrators.

Because no private company or individual is funded by the scheme, a relationship with the Foundation cannot translate into private benefit. The following rules make that operational for every participant, related to the Foundation or not.

• Same criteria, no exceptions. Every applicant is evaluated against the identical published criteria and role requirements. Nothing in sections 03 to 05 is waived, softened or accelerated for a related party.
• Same rules. Shares are fixed per role under the published methodology and are identical for everyone.
• Disclosure of relationships. Every connection to the Foundation is declared at application and on any later change. Non-disclosure is itself grounds for exclusion.
• Recusal. Any administrator connected to an applicant is recused from the evaluation and any decision that affects it.
• Full disclosure. The Foundation’s annual report confirms that no payment was made under the scheme to any private company or individual.

The statutory basis

Article 7.1, amended and restated statute of MARE Foundation “No part of the net income or assets of the Foundation shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to, any Founder, Administrator, officer or private person, except for the payment of reasonable and proper remuneration for services actually rendered or the reimbursement of expenses incurred in furtherance of the Foundation’s purposes.”

No participant is paid on self-declaration alone. Every figure the distribution relies on, including tonnage, origin and the role each participant performed, is reconciled across the chain before a certificate issues.

1. Continuing obligations. The criteria in these guidelines apply for as long as a participant takes part, not only at admission. Material changes, such as ownership, permits, non-profit status or relationships with the Foundation, must be notified without delay.
2. Annual review. The published shares, and each participant’s continued eligibility, are reviewed annually.
3. Consequences of breach. Misdeclaration of origin or weights, obstruction of verification or audit, or failure to disclose a relationship with the Foundation may lead to withheld Rewards on affected batches, suspension, or exclusion from the scheme. A Reward paid on a certificate later found to be invalid may be recovered from future distributions. Verified work by other participants in the same chain is not forfeited by one party’s breach.
4. Voluntary exit. A participant may leave at the end of any period; batches already in the verified workflow are settled under the rules in force when they entered it.

These guidelines are published, versioned and reviewed annually together with the scheme’s parameters. The Foundation’s annual report discloses certificates retired, Rewards paid to each Scheme Partner, and the inflows to and outflows from the NGO Fund and the Community Fund. Public reporting is what converts “trust us” into “check us.” Tax, VAT and legal-form questions raised by the scheme are reserved for external professional advice before finalisation.