tonnes of plastic waste generated in 2019

Roughly 11 tonnes of plastic becomes waste every second. Only 9% of it is recycled.

Region: Global

Value: 353M
Unit: tonnes
Data year: 2019
Trend: Rising
Source name: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Plastics Outlook
Source link: oecd.org/en/publications/global-plastics-outlook_de747aef-en.html
Confidence: Evidence: Medium
Caveat / scope: Figure from secondary coverage; recheck against primary. Our World in Data cites about 350 million tonnes from the same OECD dataset.
Verified on: 22 September 2026

Sources last verified 22 September 2026. Page updated 24 September 2026. How we check sources