Published 2026-09-10 · data 2022 · 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.
Recycling is the smallest of the four fates awaiting plastic waste. Of the 353 million tonnes generated worldwide in 2019, just 9% was recycled. About half went to sanitary landfill, 19% was incinerated, and 22% was mismanaged — dumped, openly burned, or leaked into the environment. The recycling bin feeds the smallest stream, not the main one.
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. It tracks the 353 million tonnes of plastic waste generated worldwide in a single year and follows each tonne to its destination.
Sanitary landfill is the largest destination at about 50%. Mismanaged waste — open dumping, open burning, and leakage into the environment — accounts for another 22%, more than the 19% that is incinerated. Recycling, at 9%, is the smallest share of all.
The recycling bin is where the public meets the system, but it feeds its smallest pathway. For every tonne of plastic waste recycled, roughly ten tonnes are buried, burned, or dumped instead.
OECD Global Plastics Outlook (2019 data, published 2022): 9% recycled, 19% incinerated, ~50% landfilled, 22% mismanaged (dumps, open burning, leakage).
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