insights

Plastic recycling – facts and figures

7 December 2023
asd
Plastic recycling talk, labels, and bins seem to be everywhere, making us think we are on track with the issue. The facts show the opposite. Plastic lifecycle is far from circular: less than 10 % gets recycled, around 12 % is incinerated, while the rest ends up in landfills. Let’s see what the other data tell us.
1 Plastic production is increasing
Plastic production is increasing

  • Production of plastic accounts for 3.4 % of global CO2 emissions,
  • Nearly half of all plastic ever manufactured was made since 2000,
  • Plastic production has more than doubled in the last 2 decades and is expected to triple by 2060.

 

2 Plastic recycling is declining
Plastic recycling is declining

  • Even though plastic waste is increasing, plastic recycling is declining, unlike the high recycling rate of paper, cardboard, and metals,
  • Plastic packaging recycling rate in the EU reached a high 42.4 % in 2016 but has been declining since, reaching 37.6 % in 2020.

 

3 Type of plastic resin
Misconceptions

  • Plastic recycling fails because almost all post-consumer plastics, except PET #1 and HDPE #2 bottles and jugs, are extremely difficult to collect, sort, and reprocess,
  • The triangular arrow with a number inside indicates the type of the plastic material, NOT that the item is recyclable,
  • Plastic that is contaminated with food residue or made of mixed materials like coffee cups, cannot be recycled.

 

4 Ocean pollution by material
Concequences

  • On average, 80 % of ocean litter is made of plastic, followed by metal (7 %), glass (6 %), and fabrics (3 %),
  • The most common waste items found in oceans are cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and food wrappers.

 

5 Mixed vs separate post-consumer
Way out

  • Plastic recycling rates are 80 times higher when the waste is collected separately, compared to mixed collection schemes,
  • 2021 was the first year in which EU consumption of plastic bags decreased,
  • Germany has the highest recycling rate in the world, with around 56 % of all waste being recycled.

 

Reduce your waste, reuse packaging, and recycle to conserve energy and natural resources. Help us get those rates up!

To learn more about Break Machinery plastic recycling, email Alessandro Sartori at alessandro.sartori@breakmachinery.com