The Status of U.S. Plastic Waste Recycling

Plastic is part of our daily lives—from the laptop I am using now to plastic packaging that houses the products we use. Globally, over 400 million tons of plastic are produced. Half of that plastic is for single-use items like packaging. 

A plastic garbage patch twice the size of Texas swirls in the Pacific Ocean. Most of that patch comes from single-use items. The top four plastic packaging items in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are bottles, bags, food containers/cutlery, and wrappings. Other plastic garbage patches exist, and every year, at least 8.8 million tons of plastic waste enter the world’s oceans. That’s like dumping a garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute. 

Plastic use could nearly triple by 2060. Half of that waste would end up in landfills, which emit methane, a greenhouse gas with a warming potential 80 times that of carbon dioxide. Yet, recyclable packaging material that ends up in landfills is worth $6.5 billion a year, according to a recent report. That wasted material also represents an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A Circular Economy For Plastic Waste

Creating a circular economy for plastic packaging waste in the U.S. is not only needed but possible. The problem is the low recycling rate. While more than three in four Americans reported they recycle, and seven in 10 said it is easy, the recycling rate is 32 percent of all combined waste. 

The recycling rate for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the highest of any plastic in the U.S. and worldwide. It is what is used to produce plastic bottles. In 2024, the U.S. recycling rate for PET bottles was 30.2 percent. The recycling rate for PET fruit containers is only nine percent, yet 60 percent of U.S. households have a recycling program for non-bottle PET packaging.

In contrast, Germany achieved a 94 percent recycling rate for PET bottles in 2019, and the recycling rate in 2024 was 95 percent. Germany’s successful recycling rate is driven by its deposit return scheme (DRS) for bottles, including PET ones. They pay an extra fee for bottled drinks and recover it when they return the bottle. 

​Closing the Loop

Ten U.S. states have a DRS: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. Maine has the highest PET recycling rate at 78 percent. Alaska comes in dead last with only one percent of PET waste recycled, and it does not have a DRS. Nine of the 10 states with a DRS have the highest recycling rates in the country. 

A DRS does not work with other types of plastic, such as low-density polyethylene (LDPE),  which is used to make soft plastic packaging. Most U.S. municipalities do not offer curbside collection for plastic bags and plastic film. However, 73 percent of Americans are aware of a store drop-off site, according to a study by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. 

The key to creating a circular plastic waste economy is enacting laws that mandate it. Researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara found that requiring plastic manufacturers to use 40 percent recycled content by 2050 would cut plastic waste in half. It would also reduce new plastic production by 44 percent and lower greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent. Five states (California, New Jersey, Washington, Maine, and Connecticut) currently have laws mandating the use of recycled plastic. 

The tools to close the loop already exist: deposit systems that push PET recycling above 90 percent overseas, and recycled-content mandates that models show could halve plastic waste. What’s missing is the will to require them. Until more states act, the swirling patch in the Pacific — and the garbage truck of plastic added to the ocean every minute — will keep growing.