Plastic production booms while recycling rates stagnate

Expert says recycling alone cannot solve the plastic crisis — “genuine solutions require systemic change, prioritising reduction and reuse over recycling”

Global plastic production has increased from two million tonnes in 1950, to 400 million tonnes in 2022 and could double to 800 million tonnes by 2050. However, global recycling rates have stalled at around 9%, which environmental campaigners argue is a sign that recycling to protect wildlife, health and the environment from plastic pollution is a myth.

The new study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, has analysed the global plastic supply chain in 2022, from feedstock to products to disposal, and found that 268 million tonnes of plastic was discarded, including 75 million tonnes destined for recycling.

However, only half of this was made into new products. Contamination with food and labels, and the complexity of additives, were blamed for making the plastic harder to recycle.

Additionally, just 9.5% of plastics — around 38 million tonnes — was made from recycled materials; the rest was made from new or “virgin” plastics, and 98% of this was manufactured from fossil fuels, which researchers warn will compromise global efforts to tackle climate change. Organic materials made up the remaining 2%.

“Recycling materials into new products is becoming increasingly financially unviable in the UK, EU and many global countries…”

Steve Morgan, Head of Policy and Infrastructure at the plastics sustainability charity, RECOUP, said: “Recycling materials into new products is becoming increasingly financially unviable in the UK, EU and many global countries due to over production…of virgin polymers and packaging claiming to contain recycled content.”

Morgan added that it is difficult to “compete on a commercial basis with material produced by countries with significantly lower cost base (energy, labour, etc) and greater access to material, and if circularity (keeping materials and products in a cycle for as long as possible) is the aim it needs to be financially supported.”

The research comes amid negotiations for a global plastic treaty which could see plastic production curbed in favour of dealing with plastic pollution via recycling. Environmental campaigners would welcome such a move, arguing that the study supports the notion that recycling is a myth and we should limit plastic production to protect wildlife, health and the environment from pollution.

A spokesperson from environmental charity, Keep Britain Tidy said most plastic pollution comes from what is thrown away and flushed, and this “is devastating to wildlife because it can take hundreds of years to break down into smaller and smaller pieces which can be easily ingested.”

They added: “Animals can also become trapped and injured by plastic and it disrupts habitats, making it hard for some species to live and breed naturally, leading to depletions in populations...”

Professor Steve Fletcher, Director of the Revolution Plastics Institute, University of Portsmouth, said the world faces a plastic crisis: “Recycling alone cannot solve this issue as it only manages waste without addressing our reliance on single-use plastics.

“Genuine solutions require systemic change, prioritising reduction and reuse over recycling. To effectively combat plastic pollution, we must fundamentally rethink how plastic is produced, consumed, and disposed of, focusing first on prevention rather than managing the consequences."