Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.

This dataset provides estimates of plastics use at the global level by application.

Primary plastics use is estimated using regional consumption by application data from Ryberg et al. (2019). An assumption of the split by polymer by application is made that it is homogeneous to the global values. Historical values (pre-2015 data) is extrapolated from 2015 data using the global evolution contained in Geyer, Jambeck and Law (2017). Secondary plastics use are derived using recycling rates and recycling loss rates, as described in the GPO annex. The plastics use data is associated with the economic flows in the OECD ENV-Linkages model to estimate changes over time. The total plastics use is equal to the sum of primary and secondary plastics use.