Why is less than 10% of the world’s plastic being recycled?
(Source Credits: Plastics For Change)
A new OECD report confirms what many in the industry already suspected: less than 10% of plastic is recycled globally. The number has barely moved in decades. That’s despite billions spent on recycling programs, public awareness campaigns, and corporate sustainability commitments.
This is a matter of structure.
Recycling isn’t failing because of consumer apathy or poor waste habits. It’s failing because the system was never designed to succeed at scale.
What’s Really Behind the 10% Ceiling?
To understand the stagnation, we need to shift the lens. Most plastic today isn’t designed to be recycled.
Material complexity: A shampoo bottle, for example, can have three different types of plastic, each with different melting points and recycling requirements.
Economic viability: Virgin plastic remains cheaper to produce than recycled plastic in many markets. Until this cost imbalance is addressed, recycling won't be commercially attractive at scale.
Invisibility of the informal economy: An estimated 58% of global plastic recovery is driven by informal waste workers yet their role remains under-recognized, unsupported, and unintegrated into formal systems.
Add to this the fact that 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, and we begin to see the bigger picture: plastic waste is not just an environmental issue it’s a structural byproduct of how our economies are built.
The Myth of the Circular Economy Without Equity
Much of the current sustainability discourse focuses on building a circular economy. But circularity, without systemic inclusion, has limits.
At Plastics For Change, we’ve seen firsthand that the true bottleneck is not collection or technology but it’s integration. Systems often overlook the people who already recover plastic every day, that is the waste pickers, small scrap dealers, aggregators.
They are, in many ways, the hidden engine of plastic recovery in the Global South. Yet without fair pay, social security, and access to formal markets, their impact remains capped.
Our work has shown that recycling systems designed around livelihoods, not just logistics, perform better over time. When the person recovering plastic is treated as a stakeholder, not just a supplier, the outcomes shift on quality, traceability, and environmental impact.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Three areas need sharper focus if we want to break past the 10% ceiling:
Product Design for Recycling: Most packaging is still designed for shelf appeal, not end-of-life recovery. Policy frameworks like EPR must now extend into product design mandates.
Price Correction for Recycled Material: Recycled plastic needs to be price-competitive with virgin alternatives. This will require subsidies, carbon pricing, or tax shifts that level the playing field.
Formal Recognition of Informal Work: The future of recycling depends on bringing informal actors into formal supply chains—with protections, training, and access to better markets.
A Shift in Perspective
Plastic is often treated as a post-consumption problem. But the real opportunity lies upstream in how we design, price, and value plastic before it becomes waste.
The conversation can’t just be about how much we recycle. It has to be about who is enabled to recycle, and how they are supported to do so. Until then, the 10% is a reflection of who our systems are built for.
At Plastics For Change, we’re working to shift that baseline. Not just by recovering plastic but by rebuilding trust, dignity, and value into every part of the supply chain.