As world leaders debated the waste hierarchy at events like COP29, regulators committed to stricter packaging laws, and brands prepared to account for the full lifecycle of their products, over 140 Greyparrot Analyzer units gathered data in the world’s municipal waste sorting plants.
We reached an important milestone of detecting 40 billion waste objects in a single year.
The data from this year’s trend report came directly from 55 facilities across 20 countries in North America, Europe and Asia, where sorting professionals have used waste intelligence insights to manage leaner, more profitable facilities.
Our analysts have uncovered trends that point the way forward for the waste sector. Here’s what a year of global waste data tells us about recycling, materials and regulation:
Recycling remains an essential tool to fight plastic pollution
The world generated 220 million tonnes of plastic waste this year — over 7% more than it did in 2021.
While reduction and reuse strategies are the most effective way to prevent plastic waste at its source, recycling is the final fork in the road for the plastic waste we produce more of each year: either it returns to the circular economy, or it goes to landfills, incinerators and the natural environment.
Our data revealed just how much plastic global sorting facilities are processing — and a major opportunity to make even more progress on plastic pollution:
PET bottles are being widely recycled
Analyzer units detected over 6 billion PET bottles in 2024 — representing the highest tonnage of a waste category entering global recycling facilities.
However, when we had a look at data from global residue lines (the material that isn’t recycled) PET bottles weren't even in the top three.
The comparison suggests that sorting facilities are recovering billions of plastic bottles every year, and curbing emissions in the process: recycled PET produces 79% less carbon than virgin material. That’s important news for packaging producers that need to maximise recyclability ahead of extended producer responsibility (EPR), and avoid plastics packaging taxes by using more rPET.
Recycling can make even more of an impact on plastic
Our analysis of residual material also revealed a massive opportunity. Facilities with the analytics and automation capabilities to target specific materials have the chance to recover even more value from plastic waste.
In 2024, our units tracked over 35,000 tonnes of recyclable plastics which went un-recycled, ending up in the residue line, destined for landfill and incineration.
With each tonne of recycled plastic saving a potential 1.5 tonnes of carbon, that’s over 52,500tCO2e in potential reductions — and a strong argument for targeted investment to recover more challenging plastics.
Clear plastic containers (like thermoform packaging) were the third most common object by mass that our units detected on residue lines. Analyzer units also flagged over 7 billion flexible film objects, which are notoriously difficult to sort.
Mechanical and chemical recycling guided by AI waste analytics and automation makes it possible to recover these challenging objects at scale – which means recycling can make an even greater impact on plastic-related emissions.
Metal and glass recycling continues to excel
In 2023, our data revealed that recyclable metal was just 3% of the average residue line. That data aligned with global recycling rates for metal, which exceeds 73% in regions like Europe.
In 2024, promisingly, we found even less metal in residue lines.
We Spotted over 2 billion aluminium cans with less than 2.5% of metals ending up in the residue line.
That suggests that many of those cans are being returned to the circular economy.
Glass was even less common, at just 1.03% of un-recycled material.
The lack of glass and metal in global residue lines sends several signals:
- For sorting plants in the UK and USA, it suggests that a key stream of income may be affected by potential deposit return schemes (DRS) and bottle bills, especially where widely-recovered PET bottles are also targeted. To offset that impact, more efficient sorting that maximises yield for the PET, glass and metal that remains will be essential.
- For regulators, it highlights the fact that DRS often targets materials that are already being recycled, and that regulation focused on materials like flexible films and virgin plastic production could be more impactful.
- For brands and packaging producers, it flags two packaging materials that are consistently and effectively recovered and recycled.
Fibre is an emissions reduction and cost savings opportunity
In contrast to metal and glass,
Waste fibre like paper and cardboard was the most common material on residue lines: it made up 56% of the material that sorting facilities sent to landfills and incinerators.
For every tonne of paper that facilities can avoid sending to landfill, they’ll save one tonne of CO2e. Not every facility will have the capacity to install new fibre lines, but this information is still valuable — especially as emissions trading schemes (ETS) come into play in countries like the UK.
Incinerating fibre at energy from waste plants (EfWs) releases biogenic gas, which won’t be subject to emissions fees. Sorting facilities that can certify the amount of fibre in the material they send to EfW could reduce the gate fees that will increase as a result of ETS, helping create a cleaner source of energy from waste in the process.
The amount of fibre that Analyzer units detected in global residue streams suggests that this could be a certification process that makes a significant impact on some facilities’ bottom lines.
Why recycling provides a vital feedback loop for circularity
Each year, our understanding of global waste flows increases exponentially: in 2023, Analyzer units detected 800 objects a second. This year, that number skyrocketed to over 1,200.
The story those objects told was clear: recyclers play a vital role in reducing the environmental impact of growing waste flows — and there are still opportunities for waste managers to reduce it even more.
Global recovery facilities have used waste intelligence insights to maximise yield, reduce losses, and return more material to the circular economy. In many cases, those insights have translated to hundreds of thousands — even millions — in revenue.
Recycling is also a vital source of data that will inform reduction and reuse strategies, with AI waste analytics guiding changes that will cascade from the top of the value chain. In 2024, major packaging producers used Greyparrot’s brand recognition to track the recyclability of their products in real-world facilities, and plan design changes that make a measurable impact. Material science leaders like Dow now also consider waste data essential in the transition to a circular value chain.
As EPR laws come into effect in the UK and USA, Europe’s PPWR scheme kicks off and Global Plastics Treaty negotiations continue in 2025, all eyes will be on the waste sector to chart a path to resource efficiency.
Learn how we used Greyparrot Analyzer to gather the data for this report here.
