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.
1 cell = 353 thousand tonnes of plastic waste (0.1% of plastic waste (2019)) · 1,000 cells
Context
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.
OECD Global Plastics Outlook (2019 data, published 2022): 9% recycled, 19% incinerated, ~50% landfilled, 22% mismanaged (dumps, open burning, leakage).
This grid fixes plastic waste (2019) at 1,000 equal cells (0.1% of plastic waste (2019)). Figures follow OECD Global Plastics Outlook as summarized in the source line — rounded so cell counts sum to the chart.