Step 1: Identify Data Sources and Map Stakeholders
2.2 Step 1: Identify Data Sources and Map Stakeholders
Section titled “2.2 Step 1: Identify Data Sources and Map Stakeholders”2.2.1 Purpose
Section titled “2.2.1 Purpose”1This work is most often carried out by the Ministry of Environment or the National Statistics Office. Step 1 combines two activities that are, in practice, one exercise: reviewing existing plastics and/or waste data sources and recording them in the Plastics Data Checklist to build an initial picture of who holds or uses plastics data. Since every entry in the Checklist names a source organisation, identifying a source and identifying a stakeholder happen at the same time.
2A more comprehensive stakeholder analysis and engagement process is undertaken at a later stage, once the specific data gaps have been identified (Step 5). What is captured at this stage represents a preliminary review only, rather than a complete mapping.
2.2.2 Key Actions
Section titled “2.2.2 Key Actions”- 1Download the Plastics Data Checklist.
- 2Identify and extract data — review published and unpublished sources across production, consumption, trade, waste, and environmental data, and record what is found directly in the Checklist or a spreadsheet as each source is identified, rather than treating identification and extraction as separate stages.
- 3Compile the source organisations recorded in the Checklist into an initial stakeholder list, noting sector where known. This list is the starting point for Step 5. It is not yet analysed or prioritised.
2.2.3 Key Tools
Section titled “2.2.3 Key Tools”1Table 2.1. Key tools for Step 1.
| Key tool | Access |
|---|---|
| Plastics Data Checklist (its “source organisation” field also serves as the initial list of stakeholders) | User Guide |
| Global Plastics Data Tracker | Online tracker |
2.2.4 Outputs
Section titled “2.2.4 Outputs”1A populated Plastics Data Checklist recording every identified source, its data category, source organisation, accessibility, and end-use tag(s) and, drawn directly from that same list, an initial stakeholder list of who holds or uses plastics data. Both feed Step 2, and the stakeholder list is picked up again in full in Step 5, once priority gaps are known.
2.2.5 Detail and supporting guidance
Section titled “2.2.5 Detail and supporting guidance”Using the Plastics Data Checklist
Section titled “Using the Plastics Data Checklist”1The Plastics Data Checklist is a tool developed by the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership and the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform to help governments, policymakers and practitioners evaluate their national plastics data. It is designed to:
- 2facilitate a systematic evaluation of national plastics data across the plastics life cycle and into the environment;
- 3identify which data points are available and how reliable they are;
- 4identify areas for improvement in data collection and management;
- 5promote coordination across sectors and national data holders; and
- 6contribute to the development of a comprehensive national Plastics Data Inventory.
7Before starting, users should familiarise themselves with the plastics data categories and how they connect to one another (Figure 2.1). The figure shows which sub-categories are summed to derive a data category — for example, total plastic waste treated should include both formally and informally managed plastic — and how plastic moves between categories.
8A User Guide for the Plastics Data Checklist has been published alongside this Handbook, together with a worked example of a completed Checklist.
9Figure 2.1. Plastics data categories and their interconnections. Source: UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform.
10[Figure file not yet in the repository — UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform..]
Capacity tiers
Section titled “Capacity tiers”1Countries’ starting points and capacity to collect and report plastics data differ widely. To support a practical, phased approach, countries should first identify which capacity tier they are closest to, and use the corresponding starting point in Table 2.2 below, not as a ceiling, but as a first target.
2Table 2.2. Capacity tiers and recommended starting points.
| Capacity tier | Recommended starting point |
|---|---|
| Limited capacity | Start with up to 4 core data areas — commonly plastic imports, exports, waste collection and waste treatment. |
| Medium capacity | Expand to around 8 core data areas, adding the most significant waste treatment routes and leakage into the environment. |
| Advanced capacity | Assess data across the full plastics life cycle. |
3As capacity, data infrastructure and data quality improve, countries can expand their data collection and reporting incrementally over time.
Identifying and extracting data by category
Section titled “Identifying and extracting data by category”1The remainder of this section addresses each plastics data category in turn: what to look for, why it is significant, and where it is typically found. As sources are identified for each category, the available data should be extracted directly into the Checklist or a spreadsheet. Any assumptions or calculations underlying the figures should be recorded in the same entry and referenced to their source, so that the reasoning behind each number remains visible for the quality assessment undertaken in Step 2. Data should be presented in tonnes (t) or thousands of tonnes (kt); for cross-country comparisons, kg per capita should also be recorded.
2Figure 2.2. The four kinds of source a national plastics data system draws on. Source: UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform.
3[Figure file not yet in the repository — UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform..]
4Administrative data of this kind is not limited to government agencies. Industry associations and, where a scheme exists, Extended Producer Responsibility organisations often hold comparable records. Such organisations should be treated as data holders in their own right, not only as informants to a government dataset, and should be added to the stakeholder list accordingly.
Production data
Section titled “Production data”1Production data should only cover materials and products produced within a country’s own borders, and should be split, where possible, between primary materials and products.
2Primary plastic materials are polymers in their original, raw form after initial polymerisation but before being transformed into finished products — typically pellets, powders, flakes or liquid resins, categorised by polymer type (such as PE, PP, PVC, PET, PS). They are the first commercially usable stage in the plastics value chain and the input material for conversion processes. From an economic statistics perspective, primary plastics are themselves a product; the distinction drawn here is about their position in the value chain, not a claim that only finished goods count as products.
3Plastic products are manufactured items made wholly or partly from plastics that have been through a conversion process such as moulding, extrusion or thermoforming — from packaging (bottles, films, containers) to durable goods, construction materials, textiles and single-use items.
4The distinction matters for avoiding double-counting: primary plastic materials are inputs that are later transformed into plastic products at a subsequent stage of the value chain, so the same tonne of plastic should not be counted once as primary material and again as a finished product within the same national total.
5Table 2.3. Sources of production data.
| Source | What it covers | Access |
|---|---|---|
| PRODCOM database (Eurostat) | EU/EEA production statistics for primary plastics and plastic products, based on industrial survey returns. The most standardised source for countries covered by it. | Database |
| Industry reports and datasets | Association- or company-level production figures. Often the only source available for countries outside PRODCOM’s coverage, and a useful cross-check elsewhere. | Varies by country |
| National surveys | Government industrial or manufacturing surveys with a plastics production module, where one exists. Usually the most authoritative national source. | Held by National Statistics Office |
Consumption data
Section titled “Consumption data”1Check first whether the country already reports into one of the sources below.
2Table 2.4. Sources of consumption data.
| Source | What it covers | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme reports | Producer-reported data on packaging or products placed on the market, where an EPR scheme is in force. Often the most granular consumption-side data available. | Varies by country |
| National consumption surveys | Household or business expenditure and consumption surveys with a plastics or packaging module. Captures domestic consumption not reflected in trade or production data alone. | Varies by country |
| Industry reports and datasets | Sector association data on domestic sales or distribution. Useful as a cross-check against survey- and trade-derived estimates. | Varies by country |
| Recycling facility reports / government recycling statistics | Data on recycled material used as an input to new products (recycled content). Relevant for circularity indicators. | Varies by country |
3As several of these sources can overlap for the same consumption category, identify a single primary source for each category and treat the others as validation checks rather than additional inputs to be summed. Where sources genuinely overlap, establish and document a hierarchy of preferred sources — for example, government statistics ahead of industry-reported estimates, so figures are not double-counted.
4For consumption data generally, distinguish household consumption (goods purchased and used by private households, including via retail and e-commerce) from non-household consumption (commercial, institutional and industrial use). Tourism-related consumption is captured within the hospitality category rather than tracked separately. Waste collected from public bins and street receptacles falls under municipal solid waste collection systems rather than under household consumption.
Trade data
Section titled “Trade data”1Check first whether the country already reports into one of the sources below.
2Table 2.5. Sources of trade data.
| Source | What it covers | Access |
|---|---|---|
| UN Comtrade database | Global trade statistics by Harmonised System (HS) code, self-reported by national customs authorities. The most complete global source of plastics import/export volumes. | Database |
| UNCTADstat Data Centre | Trade and development statistics, including plastics trade aggregates. Useful for regional and development-level comparisons. | Database |
| Comext (Eurostat) | Detailed EU external and internal trade statistics. The most granular source for EU/EEA plastics trade. | Database |
| UNEP Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter — Global Plastics Hub | Consolidated plastics-relevant indicators, including trade. | Platform |
| National customs data | A country’s own customs declarations by HS code — usually the timeliest and most detailed source, and the basis for the international databases above. | Held by national customs authority |
3Trade data is usually categorised using Harmonised System (HS) codes or the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). For most countries, the core plastic materials and products can be captured with the codes set out in Table 2.6.
4Table 2.6. Core plastics trade codes.
| Category | HS codes | SITC codes |
|---|---|---|
| Primary plastics | 3901–3914 | 571–575 |
| Plastic products | 3916–3926 | 581–583 and 893 |
| Plastic waste | 3915 | 579 |
5HS 3901–3914 cover polymers in primary forms (including polyethylene, polypropylene, styrene and vinyl polymers, as well as silicones, petroleum resins, polyamides and cellulose-based polymers). HS 3915 covers plastic waste, parings and scrap, and HS 3916–3926 cover semi-manufactures and finished plastic articles. In SITC, semi-manufactured forms such as tubes, sheets and film are recorded under division 58 (581–583), while finished articles are recorded under 893.
6These codes cover the core plastic materials and products. Countries with the capacity to do so may also examine a broader range of products that contain plastics such as textiles, packaging, building materials or consumer products using the additional codes in Table 2.7. This is not an exhaustive list. It is best suited to countries with more advanced data infrastructure, since it also requires examining indirect imports of plastics through product packaging and embedded components.
7Table 2.7. Broader and associated plastics codes.
| Category | Example HS codes |
|---|---|
| Textiles | 5401–5408 |
| Packaging | 3923 |
| Building and construction | 3916, 3918–3922, 3925 |
| Consumer products | 3924, 3926, and relevant sub-codes for specific products |
| Fishing gear | 5608 (including 5608.11, made-up fishing nets) |
The UNCTAD life cycle view
Section titled “The UNCTAD life cycle view”1Classifying trade using HS Chapter 39 alone tends to undercount plastics trade, because it excludes the fossil-fuel feedstocks and chemical additives used to make plastics, textiles and packaging, fishing gear, and the large volume of plastic “embedded” in other manufactured goods. To address this, UNCTAD developed the first trade database to track plastics across their whole life cycle, and this dataset is hosted on the Global Plastics Hub Data Hub maintained under the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML).
2Countries that wish to align their reporting with UNCTAD and the Global Plastics Hub can map their trade data to the life cycle categories in Table 2.8. The representative HS codes below are indicative; UNCTAD’s full six-digit concordance and explanatory notes should be used for detailed work.
3Table 2.8. UNCTAD plastics life cycle categories, with indicative HS codes.
| Life cycle category | Representative HS codes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inputs to plastics — Feedstocks and precursors | 2707, 2710, 2711, 2901, 2902 | Fossil-fuel by-products and chemical precursors used to make plastics; not exclusively plastics. |
| Inputs to plastics — Additives | 2917, 3204, 3206, 3812 | Plasticisers, stabilisers and pigments; used in, but not exclusive to, plastics. |
| Value chain — Primary forms | 3901–3914 | Resins, pellets and primary polymers (SITC 571–575). |
| Value chain — Intermediate forms | 3916–3921 | Monofilament, tubes, sheets, film and plates for further shaping (SITC 581–583). |
| Value chain — Intermediate manufactured goods | Selected parts and components (per UNCTAD concordance) | Semi-finished plastic parts used as inputs to other manufactured products. |
| Value chain — Final manufactured goods | 3922, 3924–3926 | Finished plastic articles (SITC 893). |
| Value chain — Plastic waste | 3915 | Waste, parings and scrap of plastics (SITC 579). |
| Cross-cutting — Plastic packaging | 3923 | Also captured under final manufactured goods; reported separately by UNCTAD. |
| Cross-cutting — Plastic textiles | 5401–5408, 5501–5516, 6401–6402 | Synthetic fibres, filaments, fabrics and plastic footwear (HS Chapters 54–55). |
| Cross-cutting — Fishing gear | 5608 | Made-up fishing nets and lines, largely plastic. |
4HS codes for feedstocks, additives, textiles and fishing gear are shared with non-plastic goods and should be treated as indicative. The definitive assignment of six-digit subheadings to each category is set out in Annex 1 of the UNCTAD methodology and on the UNCTAD Classifications page.
What trade data does not capture
Trade data from these sources primarily covers materials and products classified as plastics. It does not capture plastics embedded in, or forming part of, other products (such as electronic goods, vehicles, or textiles that are not separately coded), nor does it capture the packaging associated with a traded product — whether primary, secondary or tertiary — where that packaging is not separately coded. The packaging still enters the country along with the product and eventually becomes waste. As countries import a wide range of products, the volume of packaging entering this way can be significant, making its pathway into waste an important data gap to consider.
5Transshipment is generally not a double-counting risk in trade data, since a shipment recorded as an export from one country is matched by a corresponding import elsewhere, leaving the net national trade balance unaffected. Matching trade data to other stages of the life cycle is more difficult, since a traded product’s eventual end use is not always clear. This is addressed further in Part IV’s guidance on material flow analysis and mass balance approaches.
Waste data
Section titled “Waste data”1Waste data can refer to waste generated, waste collected, or waste treated. These terms describe different points in the life cycle, not interchangeable measures of the same thing:
- 2Waste generated: the total quantity of plastic materials and products discarded as waste by households, businesses, industries and other economic units within defined system boundaries during a specified period, regardless of what happens to it afterwards.
- 3Waste collected: the amount of plastic waste collected by formal or informal waste management systems for further processing, treatment or disposal, measured before sorting. May include contamination and material later rejected during processing.
- 4Waste treated: the amount of plastic waste that undergoes any form of processing, including mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, energy recovery, incineration and landfill, typically measured after sorting and cleaning. Part III treats Plastics Treatment (recycling and recovery) and Plastics Disposal (incineration and landfill) as separate chapters; the broader definition used here is only for the purposes of this initial data identification pass.
- 5Recovered tonnes: the amount of plastic material that completes the recycling process and leaves the facility as a recycled commodity ready for sale, measured after sorting and processing.
6Waste collection and treatment data should also be split into formal and informal waste management. Plastic waste rejected during sorting or recycling is counted within waste generated, since it is discarded regardless of its originally intended fate.
Accounting for the gap between production/trade and waste generated
In most countries, waste generated in any given year will be lower than the volume implied by production, imports and consumption in that year — because not all plastics consumed become waste in the same period. This gap is accounted for through three categories:
- 7In-use stock: plastics still embedded in long-lived products that have not yet reached end of life, tracked through stock-flow models based on average product lifespans.
- 8Informal and uncollected waste: plastics not captured by formal collection systems (open dumping, burning, littering), estimated through waste generation models or mass balance approaches.
- 9Environmental leakage: plastics that have escaped into the environment and are no longer tracked within the formal waste system.
10Once waste generated, collected and treated data have been identified, link them to standard waste classification codes so figures can be compared across sources and, where relevant, reported internationally. Two systems are commonly used: the European Waste Code / List of Wastes (EWC/LoW), a six-digit classification used mainly in EU/EEA reporting, and the Basel Convention classification, the international codes used to track transboundary movements of hazardous and plastic waste. The relevant codes under each system are set out in Table 2.9.
11Table 2.9. Waste classification codes for plastics.
| Category | Codes |
|---|---|
| EWC/LoW — clean plastics | 02 01 04; 07 02 13; 12 01 05 |
| EWC/LoW — plastic packaging | 15 01 02 |
| EWC/LoW — mixed plastics | 19 12 04; 20 01 39 |
| Basel Convention — plastic waste (special) | Y48 |
| Basel Convention — hazardous plastic waste | A3210 |
| Basel Convention — clean recyclable plastic waste | B3011 |
12Table 2.9b. Sources of waste data.
| Source | What it covers | Access |
|---|---|---|
| UNFCCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (waste sector) | Greenhouse gas inventory data for the waste sector, which includes solid waste disposal data relevant to plastics. Where compiled annually, a ready-made, quality-assured national series. | Held by national UNFCCC focal point |
| Eurostat Waste Statistics | EU/EEA waste generation and treatment statistics by waste stream, standardised and comparable across reporting countries. | Database |
| Basel Convention Reporting | Annual national reporting on transboundary movements of hazardous and plastic waste. The authoritative source for a country’s own transboundary plastic waste flows, and a binding reporting obligation in its own right. | Reporting portal |
| UNEP Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter — Global Plastics Hub | Consolidated waste-related indicators, useful as a cross-check against national figures. | Platform |
| National Inventory Reporting (waste composition) | Where a country’s National Inventory Report includes a waste composition split, it may already contain a usable plastics disaggregation. | Held by national inventory compiler |
Box 2.1: Using the World Bank’s “What a Waste 3.0” dataset
What it is: a global waste dataset (published 2026) covering generation, composition, collection, treatment, disposal and related dimensions (including plastics management, institutional arrangements, and costs/financing) for 217 countries and 262 cities, compiled primarily from official government statistics and publicly available data, supplemented by publications from international organisations and academic sources.
How to use it here: access the open dataset, filter to the relevant country (and city, if needed), and record the figures in the Checklist as a lower-confidence entry pending validation, rather than as an authoritative source on a par with national statistics.
Data for plastics in the environment
Section titled “Data for plastics in the environment”1Check first whether the country already reports into one of the platforms below.
2Table 2.10. Sources of data on plastics in the environment.
| Source | What it covers | Access |
|---|---|---|
| UNEP Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter — Global Plastics Hub | Consolidated global indicators on plastic pollution and marine litter, bringing several monitoring programmes together in one place. | Platform |
| UNEP/IUCN National Guidance for Plastic Pollution Hotspotting and Shaping Action | A methodology for identifying pollution hotspots at country level. Useful where a country wants to generate its own environmental-leakage estimates. | Guidance |
| GESAMP Guidelines for the Monitoring and Assessment of Plastic Litter in the Ocean (2019) | The technical reference methodology most ocean litter monitoring programmes are built on. | Guidelines |
| LITTERBASE (Alfred Wegener Institute) | A global database of literature-derived litter and biota records. Useful where no national monitoring exists, as a literature-based estimate. | Database |
| Regional programmes: EMODnet, OSPAR Beach Litter Database, HELCOM Marine Litter Database | Regionally standardised monitoring data for participating European countries. | EMODnet, OSPAR, HELCOM |
| National and citizen-science programmes: Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, Marine Debris Tracker, Litterati, the Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database (Tangaroa Blue Foundation), the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring Program, the Japanese Atlas of Ocean Microplastics | Often the only environmental-release data available where no formal monitoring programme exists. Generally lower in coverage and reliability than a structured monitoring programme — flag as such in the Checklist. | Tracker, Litterati, AMDI, NOAA, Japan Atlas |
| Research institution databases: The Ocean Cleanup Research | Research-grade data, typically with a narrower geographic focus. | Research |
Informal-sector data
Section titled “Informal-sector data”1Many countries have a substantial informal sector operating across production, collection and recycling that will not appear in the official records above. Where this is the case, flag the relevant categories explicitly in the Checklist rather than leaving the gap unrecorded, even where no data point yet exists. Verifying and estimating informal-sector activity is addressed in more depth later in this workflow (Steps 5 and 6) and in Part III’s guidance on disaggregating data by formal and informal actors.
Reconciling data discrepancies
Section titled “Reconciling data discrepancies”1Because data on different life cycle stages typically come from different sources, figures will rarely reconcile perfectly once brought together. Production plus imports, for instance, will not exactly equal consumption plus exports. Minor discrepancies are normal and should be documented rather than forced to balance. Larger discrepancies are often a sign that a definition, system boundary, or double-counting issue needs to be checked. Part IV sets out material flow analysis and other cross-cutting methods that can help reconcile discrepancies of this kind in more detail.
Disaggregating data
Section titled “Disaggregating data”1How granular a country makes this data, whether for its own national reporting, for regional platforms, or for international commitments such as Basel Convention Reporting or the INC process, is at the country’s own discretion. Data can be split by the industry in which the plastic is used, the type of plastic resin, and the destination of plastic consumption or disposal (Figure 2.3).
2In deciding on granularity, weigh the impact and feasibility of collecting more detailed data against the level of detail actually needed to develop and track national policy. Policy requirements can also change over time, so data systems should be designed with enough flexibility to accommodate greater granularity as more data becomes available.
Box 2.2: Tagging Data for Multiple End Uses
Most countries need the Plastics Data Inventory to serve more than one purpose. Tag every entry in the Checklist against the end use(s) it can support, rather than running a separate identification exercise for each:
- 3Basel Convention Reporting — transboundary movements of hazardous and plastic waste, reported annually against a fixed template. Often the fastest realistic win, since customs and trade records under HS or Basel Convention codes usually already exist.
- 4EPR scheme(s) — producer-level volumes placed on market, packaging composition, and collection/recycling rates. Often thin or absent until a scheme creates a reporting obligation — see Step 6.
- 5National policy commitments — the INC process, SDG tracking, and national reduction targets, which typically draw on the broadest life cycle picture and have more flexible timing than Basel reporting.
A data point tagged against more than one end use is a strong early candidate for inclusion in the first-draft inventory (Step 3) — it delivers the most value for the effort involved.
6Figure 2.3. Six dimensions for disaggregating plastics data: three that locate the plastic in the flow, three that describe the material itself. Source: UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform.
7[Figure file not yet in the repository — UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform..]