Plastic waste management methods by country

Plastic waste management varies greatly by country and region. For example, the United States landfilled roughly 70 percent of its plastic waste in 2019, while just nine percent was collected for recycling. This is below the global average recycling rate of 15 percent. In comparison, OECD EU countries, China, India, and OECD Asian countries (Japan and South Korea) had above-average recycling rates in 2019.

Developing countries are also more likely to mismanage and litter a larger share of plastic waste than developed regions. India, for example, mismanaged and littered 43 percent of its plastic waste in 2019, compared to five percent in OECD EU countries.

Distribution of plastic waste management worldwide in 2019, by select region and country

Characteristic	Collected for recycling	Sanitary landfill	Incinerated	Mismanaged & litter
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Release date

June 2022

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2019

Special properties

before recycling losses

Supplementary notes

Figures refer to treatment shares without accounting for recycling residues and litter-clean up.
Values for a country or region may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.

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