2022-09-10 · 353 million tonnes of plastic waste, 2019
Recycling is the smallest thing that happens to plastic
Follow 1,000 tonnes of global plastic waste. Nine squares get recycled. Most of the rest is buried, burned, or dumped. The recycling bin is not the system.
Only 9% of the world's plastic waste is recycled. Of the 353 million tonnes generated in 2019, half was buried in sanitary landfills, 19% was incinerated, and 22% was dumped, openly burned, or leaked into the environment. Recycling is the smallest of plastic's four fates.
1 cell = 353 thousand tonnes of plastic waste (0.1% of plastic waste (2019)) · 1,000 cells
Context
The figures come from the OECD Global Plastics Outlook, published in 2022 using 2019 data on plastic waste generated worldwide. Sanitary landfill is the single largest destination, taking half of all plastic waste; incineration accounts for 19%; and 22% is classed as mismanaged — dumped, openly burned, or leaked into the environment.
Read as a ratio, disposal is the default: for every tonne of plastic waste recycled in 2019, more than ten tonnes were landfilled, incinerated, or lost to dumps, open burning, and leakage.
At this scale, percentages are physical quantities: one percentage point of 2019's plastic waste is roughly 3.5 million tonnes.
OECD Global Plastics Outlook (2019 data, published 2022): 9% recycled, 19% incinerated, ~50% landfilled, 22% mismanaged (dumps, open burning, leakage).
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