Plastics treatment

3.7 Plastics treatment

1Once plastic waste is collected, it follows various management pathways towards treatment. These pathways include reuse, repair of damaged products, upcycling into higher-value applications, recycling through mechanical or chemical processes, and energy recovery through various technologies (e.g., waste-to-energy, pyrolysis, co-processing in cement kilns, gasification to produce syngas).

3.7.1 Definitions and Scope

1Plastics treatment: the pathways that recover value from plastic rather than disposing of it - reuse, repair, upcycling, mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and energy recovery (for example, incineration with energy recovery, or co-processing in cement kilns). Treatment data record how much plastic enters each pathway, usually in tonnes over a reporting period. Final disposal, such as landfill, is covered separately in Section 3.8.

2Treatment takes place in both formal and informal settings. Reuse and repair in particular happen at the point of use - for example, refilling containers at home, or local repair - and are hard to measure yet they can offer valuable insight for raising public awareness and advancing the circular economy. It therefore helps to record formal treatment, informal treatment, and product-use-level activity (reuse and repair) separately, where the data allow.

3Repurposing processes

4Repurposing processes include methods that maintain or transform plastic materials into new usable products while preserving their material value.

• 5Reuse: The process of using plastic products or packaging again without significant modification, extending the life cycle of materials. Examples include refillable bottles, reusable containers, and repurposed plastic packaging.

6It helps to distinguish formal reuse systems such as deposit-return or refill-and-return schemes, where flows are recorded, from informal reuse and repurposing by households and businesses, which extends a product’s life but is difficult to capture in data.

• 7

  Repair: The restoration of damaged plastic products to functional condition, prolonging their usable life. This includes mending broken parts, replacing components, or fixing structural issues.

• 8

  Upcycling: The creative transformation of plastic waste into new products of higher quality or value than the original. This process adds value to waste materials by creating items with enhanced functionality, aesthetics, or durability.

• 9

  Mechanical recycling: The physical processing of plastic waste through sorting, washing, shredding, melting, and remoulding to produce recycled plastic pellets or products without altering the basic chemical structure.

10Thermal processes

11Thermal processes utilise heat-based technologies to convert plastic waste into feedstock, energy or fuel products.

• 12

  Chemical recycling: Advanced technologies that break down plastic polymers into their basic chemical constituents (monomers or other basic chemicals). These building blocks can then be used to produce new virgin-quality plastics or other chemical products. o Pyrolysis: The thermal decomposition of plastic waste in an oxygen-free environment at temperatures between 300-900°C, converting polymers into liquid oil, synthetic gas, and char residue. The resulting products can serve as fuel or chemical feedstock. o Gasification: A high-temperature (>700°C) thermal process that converts plastic waste into synthesis gas (syngas) through partial oxidation with controlled amounts of oxygen or steam. The produced syngas can be used for electricity generation or as chemical feedstock.

• 13

  Waste-to-Energy: Controlled combustion of waste including plastics in specialised facilities to generate electricity, heat, or steam while managing emissions and capturing pollutants.

• 14

  Co-processing: The simultaneous recovery of energy and recycling of mineral content from waste in industrial processes, particularly cement production, where plastics replace fossil fuels and any mineral content becomes incorporated into the final product.

15Note: Pyrolysis and gasification count as recycling only where the output is used as feedstock or new material; where the output is burned as fuel, they are a form of energy recovery. Countries should record and document which applies.

3.7.2 Why treatment data matters

1Treatment data shows what actually happens to plastic waste after it is collected: how much is reused, repaired, recycled, recovered for energy, or sent on to disposal. It is the basis for a country’s recycling rate and for checking whether waste is being managed in the way that policies intend.

2Reliable treatment data supports several uses: measuring recycling and recovery rates; planning recycling and energy-recovery capacity; tracking progress against recycled-content and circular-economy targets; and reporting against SDG indicators and the global plastics instrument now being negotiated.

3.7.3 Methods for generating treatment data

1Repurposing processes

2Data collection for repurposing activities should include both formal and informal sectors to capture the full picture of waste recovery. This includes tracking materials from municipal collection systems, commercial recycling operations, and informal waste collectors who often recover significant quantities of valuable materials. Tools are listed in Table 3.7. The tools are grouped by who is most likely to lead or supply the data.

• 3

  Government: methods that rely on government oversight, funding or regulatory authority – municipal recycling records, council and contractor reports, waste audits, recycler and small- business surveys, and extended producer responsibility.

• 4

  Private sector: operational data from recyclers, reprocessors and producers – for example recycling company processing reports and refillable-station tracking systems.

• 5

  Small-scale and informal sector: data from recycling cooperatives, upcycling and social enterprises, and repair initiatives.

• 6

  Other organisations: data from environmental groups, charities, industry bodies and NGOs.

• 7

  Research and academia: analytical studies such as material flow analysis.

8Table 3.7. Tools for Generating Data for plastics treatment (repurposing processes)

Method	Description	Advantages	Limitations
Government — Municipal recycling facility records. Example: US EPA national recycling data.	Basic data collection from council-operated material recovery facilities tracking plastic materials processed and sold.	Direct source of local recycling volumes; regular reporting already in place; shows seasonal and local trends; usually includes a plastic type breakdown.	Only covers materials in the municipal system; may count sorted materials rather than final recycling; quality and contamination issues often overlooked; does not include commercial and industrial or informal waste.
Government — Council waste contractor reports. Example: Somerset Council (UK).	Required reporting from private companies managing waste and recycling on behalf of local councils.	Contractual obligation ensures data collection; covers the entire municipal service area; can include both collection and processing.	Reporting quality varies between contractors; focus often on weight rather than material quality; different councils use different metrics.
Government — Waste audits. Examples: Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF); waste audit training (Sri Lanka).	Physical sorting and weighing of waste samples to determine plastic content and recycling potential.	Actual physical verification; detailed composition analysis; identifies missed recycling opportunities; can assess contamination levels.	Resource-intensive; a point-in-time snapshot; sample selection affects results; requires trained personnel.
Government — Plastic recycler surveys.	Regular surveys of companies that convert collected plastics into reusable materials. See Part IV, Surveys.	Focus on actual recycling rather than collection; end-market insights; product applications tracked; processing capacity information.	Voluntary participation limits data; business confidentiality concerns; response rates vary; self-reported data with limited verification.
Government — Small recycling business surveys.	Questionnaires or interviews with small-scale recyclers about plastic volumes and types.	Captures activities outside the formal system; identifies specialised niche recyclers; local economic activity measurement; reveals entrepreneurial innovations.	Time-consuming to conduct; self-reported data with limited verification; informal operations may be reluctant to share; irregular or seasonal operations.
Government — Regulated producer responsibility schemes, including EPR and take-back schemes. Examples: Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling Association; LUCID (Germany); CITEO (France); UK Government.	Mandatory or voluntary reporting from producers under EPR schemes on recycling of their products. As part of an EPR scheme, local authorities or municipalities may be required to report the amount of plastics recycled, to determine the total fees producers must pay to offset the costs of managing packaging waste.	If mandated, the legal requirement can ensure reporting; standardised methodology.	Limited to covered products and packaging; the definition of recycling can vary; attribution challenges in mixed systems.
Private sector — Recycling company processing reports. Example: Plastics Recyclers Europe.	Regular reporting on plastic volumes received, processed and sold by private recycling companies.	Direct source of actual processing data; usually includes polymer types (PET, HDPE); market reality reflected in operations; shows yield rates from input to output.	Commercially sensitive information; limited public access; focused on profitable materials; different companies use different metrics.
Private sector — Refillable station tracking systems (brand owners and manufacturers).	Digital monitoring systems that record the quantity and types of plastic packaging in refill operations, including container reuse counts and product volumes dispensed.	Captures consumer participation rates; provides brand-specific packaging reuse data.	Limited to formal refill locations; does not capture at-home refilling; requires infrastructure; does not track container end-of-life.
Small-scale and informal sector — Recycling cooperative data collection. Example: Pacific Recycling Foundation, Fiji.	Basic record-keeping systems for waste picker groups and recycling cooperatives.	Ground-level data on valuable plastics; community participation opportunity; socioeconomic benefits documented; captures materials missed by formal systems.	Limited record-keeping resources; focus on higher-value plastics only; variable data quality; challenging to aggregate across groups.
Small-scale and informal sector — Upcycling enterprises, social enterprises and repair cafés.	Basic production records from businesses transforming plastic waste into value-added products.	Documents creative reuse solutions; tracks higher-value transformations; product development innovations.	Often very small production volumes; diverse businesses are difficult to categorise; inconsistent measurement approaches; limited to specific plastic types.
Other organisations — Reports from recycling programmes run by environmental groups, charities, industry groups and NGOs. Example: NAPCOR’s PET recycling report.	Data collection by organisations working on plastic waste and recycling initiatives.	Independent verification role; community engagement focus; documentation of innovative approaches; education and awareness integration.	Often project-specific rather than systematic; variable methodologies between organisations; funding limitations affect scope; advocacy focus may affect objectivity.
Research and academia — Material flow analysis. Example: OECD Global Plastics Outlook.	See Part IV, Material Flow Analysis, for detailed guidance.	—	—

9Table 3.8. Tools for Generating Data for plastics treatment (thermal processes)

Method	Description	Advantages	Limitations
Weighbridge records	Recording the weight of incoming waste loads at the facility entrance, often with estimation of plastic content.	Continuous data collection of all incoming waste; simple infrastructure already in place; total volume tracking by source or hauler; basic data already required for operations.	Limited plastic-specific information; visual estimation has high error rates; mixed waste composition challenges; no tracking of individual plastic types.
Contracted waste deliveries (waste-to-energy facility). Examples: CEWEP European Waste-to-Energy Plants; EU Industrial Emissions Portal / E-PRTR.	Formal documentation of plastic content in contracted waste deliveries.	Contractual documentation; regular reporting structure; source-specific tracking; economic incentives for accuracy.	Self-reported by waste providers; limited verification mechanisms; contract terms affect reporting; focus on contaminants rather than plastics.
Material recovery pre-processing (pre-processing facility)	Data from systems that extract recyclable plastics before waste-to-energy processing.	Direct measurement of diverted plastics; polymer-specific recovery potential; value recovery documentation; efficiency measurement of sorting.	Captures only easily recovered plastics; efficiency varies by technology; economic rather than comprehensive focus.

3.7.4 Disaggregating treatment data

1As with the other stages, treatment data is most useful when broken down. Wherever the source data allows, it should be disaggregated along the following dimensions:

• 2Treatment pathway: reuse, repair, upcycling, mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and energy recovery (waste-to-energy, pyrolysis, co-processing, gasification), so each can be tracked separately.
• 3Stage of recycling: material sorted and sent for recycling versus material actually recycled into new products, since the two are often confused.
• 4Polymer and product type: e.g., PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE/LLDPE, PP, PS/EPS, and the applications the recyclate goes into.
• 5Sector and destination: formal versus informal, municipal versus commercial and industrial, and recycled domestically versus exported for treatment.

6Further detail on these categories is provided in the Disaggregating Data section.

3.7.5 Data challenges and a tiered approach to getting started

1Treatment data carries several challenges. “Recycling” is defined in different ways – some figures count material sorted or sent to a recycler, others count only what becomes a new product. Each figure should

2therefore state which is meant. Recycling into lower-value uses is sometimes described as downcycling. Waste-to-energy plants burn mixed waste rather than plastic alone, therefore the plastic share of the feedstock must be estimated. Chemical recycling is still developing, and its data and definitions are not yet settled. Much processing data is commercially sensitive, and informal reuse, repair and recycling are hard to measure. Sources should therefore be combined and clearly documented.

3A practical way to begin is to match the method to current data capacity and strengthen it over time:

• 4

  Basic: estimate treatment shares from EPR and municipal recycling reports and national statistics, applying a plastic fraction to any mixed waste sent to energy recovery.

• 5

  Intermediate: add surveys of recyclers and waste-to-energy operators, facility permit and reporting data, and structured engagement with the informal sector, separating material sorted from material actually recycled.

• 6

  Advanced: reconcile all sources in a material flow analysis that links collection, treatment and end-markets, disaggregated by pathway and polymer, with routine validation.

7Countries can move up the tiers as capacity grows; at every stage the priority is a transparent, repeatable method and a clear statement of what each figure counts as “recycled” or “recovered.”

3.7.6 Further Materials

• 1Eurostat Waste Statistics - the EU’s waste statistics database, covering generation, treatment and management data for member states, including circular-economy Sankey flows.
• 2Basel Convention plastic-waste reporting - the annual national reporting system for transboundary movements of hazardous and plastic wastes, including exports, imports and disposal methods.
• 3UNEP Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML) Digital Platform - country dashboards with plastic-flow data, policy tracking and consolidated global datasets.
• 4World Bank What a Waste 3.0 - a global waste database covering 217 countries, with generation, collection and treatment data and projections to 2050.