If you like our site, mark us as a preferred source on Google — so you’ll see our articles more often in search!
★Mark us as a preferred sourceThe Packaging Data Hub launched on 11 November 2026. Built by Systemiq and Earth Action, the platform uses harmonised data from 50 countries to show what happens to plastic packaging after use. Its first headline figure is sobering: across the markets covered, roughly 18% of plastic packaging is recycled in practice.
The platform is backed by corporate partners including Amcor and Colgate-Palmolive, with strategic oversight from organisations such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and WWF. The aim is a shared reference point that packaging designers, investors and regulators can all rely on.
In short: The Packaging Data Hub brings comparable recycling data for 50 countries and 12 plastic packaging formats into one place. Its launch data show that around 18% of plastic packaging is recycled in practice, and around 35% in the European Union. The platform counts only material that leaves the recycling process as usable recyclate, after losses at collection and sorting.
Recycling figures come from many sources, and those sources often use different definitions. One number measures what was collected, another what left the sorting plant as a bale, a third what was actually turned into regranulate. That makes it hard to compare two countries, and harder still to say where investment is most needed.
According to the initiative, this has a real cost. With recycling requirements tightening, data gaps risk expensive redesigns, misdirected investment and reported figures that companies cannot confidently defend. As David Clark, Chief Sustainability Officer at Amcor, put it: “Better data enables better decisions.”
What do the first Packaging Data Hub figures show?
The 50 countries currently in the platform together account for around 80% of the world’s plastic packaging waste. Four findings stand out from the launch data:
- around 18% of plastic packaging is recycled in practice;
- flexible packaging makes up roughly 40% of plastic packaging waste, yet only about 10% of it is recycled;
- in low- and middle-income countries, recycling rates are around twice as high where extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes are in place;
- the European Union recycles around 35% of its plastic packaging.
The first two figures allow a rough back-of-the-envelope estimate of our own. If 40% of the waste is flexible and a tenth of that is recycled, flexibles explain about 4 percentage points of the overall 18%. That leaves a rate of roughly 23% for the remaining 60%, which is mostly rigid packaging. Bottles, containers and trays pull the global average up; films and pouches pull it down.
Why is the EU figure lower than official statistics?
The 35% sits below official EU data: Eurostat has reported plastic packaging recycling rates of around 40% in recent years. The difference lies in the measurement point. The platform counts only what comes out of the recycling process as usable material, so it deducts losses at collection and sorting as well as yield losses during reprocessing.
This matters because the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) sets a mandatory 55% recycling target for plastic packaging by 2030. The two numbers are not produced with the same method, so the gap between 35% and 55% cannot be read directly as a compliance shortfall. It does show how far apart material accounted for on paper and material actually recovered can be.
National material flow studies point to the same pattern. Our analysis of the plastics flow in Germany 2025 also found a notable gap between what is collected and what is genuinely recycled into new material.
Flexible packaging: the widest gap
Films, pouches and bags account for four tenths of the waste, while only one tonne in ten returns to the material loop. This is probably the platform’s most actionable figure, and it matches what sorting plants see every day.
The reasons are well known. Lightweight packaging is more likely to end up in residual waste at household level. For laminated structures, the material composition itself is the barrier: multilayer packaging recycling currently works mostly on clean post-industrial waste.
This is where format-level data add more than material averages. A “PE” or “PP” category hides the fact that a bottle and a pouch made from the same polymer meet very different fates.
How is the database built, and who can access it?
The platform draws on more than 100 vetted public and proprietary sources. These are complemented by data-sharing partnerships with producer responsibility organisations, recyclers, materials recovery facilities and other operators. Every figure is shown with its sources and a confidence level, so users can judge the strength of the evidence themselves.
Data can be searched, compared and downloaded by country, packaging format and year. The system estimates three volumes: how much packaging enters a given market, how much is collected for recycling, and how much is recycled in practice.
Access comes in three tiers. Companies use the platform through a paid subscription. Policymakers, academic institutions and other independent organisations can request free full access for non-commercial use. Anyone can explore a free sample country and the aggregate data.
Who is behind the platform?
The two lead organisations are Systemiq and Earth Action. The methodology was shaped, tested and validated through a Technical Advisory Board that includes Amcor and Colgate-Palmolive alongside Mars, Nestlé and Unilever.
Strategic oversight comes from a Steering Committee made up of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, WWF, CDP, WRAP, the Global Plastic Action Partnership and The Consumer Goods Forum. Funding support comes from EIT Food and the Röchling Foundation.
Yoni Shiran, Partner at Systemiq, noted that packaging teams are making decisions today that will shape what reaches the market for years, so they need to know whether a pack can be recycled and whether the systems exist where it is sold. Julien Boucher, co-founder of Earth Action, argued that a recycling figure is only useful if you know how much confidence to place in it.
How can companies and policymakers use it?
Packaging teams can compare how a particular format performs across markets, build their packaging strategy on that, and identify where to investigate or invest. In their reporting, they can use figures they are able to explain.
That also matters for regulatory readiness. Beyond the PPWR, the announcement names California’s SB 54 and the EPR schemes now operating in dozens of countries. In Europe, industry is meanwhile pushing for uniform rules: CEC and 45 associations recently called for a harmonised EU EPR regulation under the Circular Economy Act. The debate around the UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax shows how much weight accounting rules carry.
The same data can support voluntary reporting, such as CDP, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment, Scope 3 calculations and ESG disclosures.
What is planned for 2027?
Coverage is due to expand in 2027: more countries, US state-level data, and paper and cardboard packaging alongside plastics. Forecasts of future collection and recycling rates are also planned, with further data partnerships strengthening the evidence base.
What does this mean from a Hungarian perspective?
Hungary is among the 50 countries on the platform, with data available for 2019, 2021 and 2022. The most recent Hungarian data point is therefore from 2022, which means it still reflects the situation before the waste concession system started on 1 July 2023 and before the mandatory deposit return scheme began operating in 2024. It is a useful baseline, but more recent years will be needed to judge where the country stands today.
For Hungarian producers and distributors, the PPWR has applied since 12 August 2026, and the regulation treats recyclability as a practical question: what counts is whether packaging is actually collected, sorted and reprocessed at scale.
That requires format-level data broken down by market. A Hungarian food exporter needs more than the knowledge that its pouch is “recyclable in theory”. It needs to see how much of that format really becomes raw material again in the destination market. Experience from sorting plants is clear: a large share of the films and multilayer pouches placed in the yellow bin currently ends up in sorting residue.
The bottom line
The Packaging Data Hub does not bring new technology; it brings a common yardstick. The 18% global and 35% EU rates are lower than the familiar numbers because measurement happens at the end of the process, at finished recyclate. Flexible packaging shows the biggest shortfall. Whether the platform truly becomes a shared reference point will depend on how transparent the methodology proves to be, and on how many users gain access beyond the paid subscription.
Packaging Data Hub – frequently asked questions
What is the Packaging Data Hub?
The Packaging Data Hub is a data platform launched by Systemiq and Earth Action on 11 November 2026 to make plastic packaging recycling data comparable. It currently covers 50 countries and 12 packaging formats using common definitions and a single methodology. Each figure is shown with its sources and a confidence level, so users can judge the strength of the evidence.
How much plastic packaging is recycled in practice according to the platform?
According to the launch data, around 18% of plastic packaging is recycled in practice. This applies to the 50 countries covered, which together account for about 80% of the world’s plastic packaging waste. In the European Union the rate is around 35%, while the PPWR sets a mandatory 55% target for 2030.
Why is the platform’s EU figure lower than official statistics?
Because the platform measures at the end of the process. It counts only material that leaves recycling as usable recyclate, after losses at collection, sorting and reprocessing. Official EU figures are measured at an earlier point and are therefore higher. For that reason, the two numbers cannot be compared directly when assessing legal compliance.
Which packaging type shows the biggest shortfall?
Flexible packaging. Films, pouches and bags make up roughly 40% of plastic packaging waste in the markets covered, yet only about 10% is recycled. Lightweight packaging often ends up in residual waste, a lot of material is lost during sorting, and multilayer structures are difficult to reprocess into usable material.
Who can access the platform’s data?
Access comes in three tiers. Companies use the full platform through a paid subscription. Policymakers, academic institutions and other independent organisations can request free full access for non-commercial use. Anyone can explore a free sample country and the aggregate data. Data can be searched, compared and downloaded by country, packaging format and year.
How will the platform expand in 2027?
Coverage is planned to expand in 2027 to more countries, including state-level data for the United States. Paper and cardboard packaging will be added alongside plastics. Forecasts of future collection and recycling rates are also planned, and further data-sharing partnerships are expected to strengthen the evidence base behind the figures.
🔗 Official sources and references: 👉
- Packaging Data Hub – press release (11 November 2026): Packaging Data Hub launches to show how plastic packaging is recycled across global markets
- Packaging Data Hub – home page: packagingdata.earth
- Packaging Data Hub – methodology: hub.packagingdata.earth/methodology
- Systemiq: systemiq.earth
- Earth Action: e-a.earth
Consistent structure, quick answers: every article is built so that both readers and AI search tools can find the key points easily. Our content is produced with the help of AI tools and reviewed by our editor.
