Less Than 10% of Plastic Is Actually Recycled, Global Study Finds

Name: Less Than 10_ of Plastic Is Actually Recycled, Global Study Finds
Uploaded: 2025-05-09 15:30:11
Duration: 94 s
Description: Despite growing awareness, less than 10% of global plastic is made from recycled materials—most ends up in landfills or is burned.

A new global analysis of plastic’s life cycle has revealed that less than 10% of the plastic produced worldwide in 2022 was made from recycled material.

Despite frequent claims from producers, retailers, and beverage companies that plastics are being recycled, the majority of plastic continues to be produced from fossil fuels, primarily coal and oil.

The study examined the production of 400 million tonnes of plastic in 2022 and found that only about 38 million tonnes—just 9.5%—came from recycled sources, while the remaining 362 million tonnes were derived from fossil fuel materials.

In 2022, only 27.9% of plastic waste was recycled, while a significant share was either burned or sent to landfill.

Plastic production has surged since the 1950s, when only 2 million tonnes were manufactured annually. That figure is projected to reach a staggering 800 million tonnes per year by 2050.

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