Plastic in Sweden – from production to recycling

To ensure that plastic is used where it delivers the greatest benefit, informed decisions are essential. This requires a clear understanding of the current situation, including how plastic is used, the volumes of plastic waste generated, how to waste is managed, and the major sources and pathways through which plastic enters the environment. 

To support this, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has carried out a mapping of plastic flows in Sweden. The figures below are taken from the 2025 publication, based on data from 2023. 

A short version of the report can be found here: 

Plastic in Sweden – summary of the report

Plastic that is produced and used will eventually wear out and become waste, which must be collected and treated. Across various plastic streams, different quantities and types of plastic waste are generated. For the mapped product-specific streams, not including mixed ones, the total amount of plastic waste in Sweden was approximately 636,000 tonnes. 

In the mixed streams, the amount of plastic is estimated at approximately 1,069,000 tonnes, mainly originating from households and businesses. In total, this means approximately 1.7 million tonnes of plastic waste in Swedish waste streams in 2023 (excluding imported waste). 

The stream generating the most plastic waste is packaging, with approximately 307,000 tonnes in 2023, including PET bottles with return deposit. 

The construction sector is a major user of plastic and generatedaround 208,000 tonnes of plastic waste in 2023, followed by the vehicle and tyre industry, which generated approximately 69,000 tonnes in the same year. These streams constitute the largest flows that can be clearly traced to a specific product group or source. 

There are streams that generate large volumes of plastic waste but stem from multiple, less well-defined sources. For example, in 2023 an estimated 387,000 tonnes of plastic waste were generated in the category “mixed commercial waste and sorting residues” and 239,000 tonnes were generated in the category “plastic waste from recycling centres”. 

However, it is important to note that the mapping is based on numerous assumptions, and statistical data are lacking in several areas. 

The method used to treat plastic waste varies depending on the type of plastic, the type of product, and the conditions for sorting and collection. Certain plastics and products are specifically designed, both in terms of material properties and intended use, to be suitable for material recycling into new plastic products. Plastic streams that include such recyclable products are packaging, certain construction products, and some plastic components from vehicles. These often consist of the polymers PP (used in food packaging and car parts), soft or hard PE (agricultural film), PET (beverage bottles), or certain forms of PVC commonly found in construction products. 

In 2023, approximately 141,000 tonnes of the plastic waste in Sweden were materially recycled. This corresponds to about 8 percent of the mapped Swedish plastic waste flows (excluding imported waste for energy recovery) or just under 13 percent of the total amount of plastic raw material placed on the Swedish market in the same year.  

The recycling rate may be underestimated. If one assumes that separately collected plastic waste from industry, as well as imported green-listed  plastic waste, is also recycled (as these are relatively clean streams) the material‑recycling rate would amount to approximately 25 percent of the mapped Swedish plastic‑waste flows. However, there is insufficient information on how these streams are managed. 

The most common method of material recycling today is mechanical recycling. This process involves sorting the plastic waste by type, washing it, and shredding it into flakes or granules that can be melted down and used to manufacture new products. A method currently under development is chemical recycling, in which the polymer chains that the plastic consists of are broken down and can subsequently be reassembled into new polymers. This technique is often optimised depending on the specific plastic stream being treated. 

Another commonly used treatment method is incineration with energy recovery, where plastic waste, often mixed with other types of waste, is incinerated and utilising the resulting energy for district heating or industrial processes. The waste directed to energy recovery typically consists of materials that cannot be sorted into fractions for material recycling because they are made of inseparable materials or are contaminated. Examples include single‑use items from healthcare, demolition waste from the construction sector, tyres, and mixed commercial waste.  

In 2023, more than 1.2 million tonnes of plastic from domestic waste flows were sent to Swedish waste-to-energy facilities. In addition, approximately 93,300 tonnes of plastic and rubber waste were used as fuel in the Swedish cement industry. A further 451,000 tonnes of plastic in imported waste were also incinerated at Swedish waste-to-energy facilities.