Knowns and unknowns of plastic waste flows in the Netherlands

Plastic entering the environment is a growing threat for ecosystems. We estimate the annual mass of known Dutch plastic waste generated and littered and where it ends up. We use two methods: (1) a material flow analysis of plastic waste separately collected from 13 economic sectors (including households, industry and imports) and estimate the amount sent to processing plants or exported and (2) a mismanagement model from observations of litter (on Dutch beaches and riverbanks) plus estimates of inadequately managed exported plastic scraps entering the environment abroad. In 2017 (the most recent complete data set available), an estimate of 1990 (±111) kilotonnes [kt] of plastic waste was separately collected. The top three plastic waste generating sectors (74% of the total) were households, clothing and textiles, and importation. Our mismanagement model estimates that 4.3–21.2 kt enters the environment annually; almost all of which occurs in foreign countries after inadequate management of imported Dutch waste. We highlight unknowns, including the source and/or destination of imported (623 kt) and exported (514 kt) plastics, plastics in non-household mixed waste streams and the plastic fraction of some separately collected waste, for example, e-waste. Our results stress the need for improved monitoring and reporting of plastic waste. Beyond the Netherlands, our recommendations could also help other high-income countries’ decision-makers reach their circular economy goals.


numbers for waste generated/source from the table above are decreased by the source uncertainty %, column D and destinations by the destination uncertainty, column G)
The source for the exported waste 383 kt is unknown/unreported, apart from coming from recycling facilities (78 kt below).The remaining 305 kt is not included in the total waste generated amount to avoid doublecounting (it could come from other waste streams or imported waste.)

Mismanaged Dutch plastic waste estimates [tonnes] (d)
Since the destination uncertainty is larger than the source uncertainty, the "unreported" amount was negative here (-20: budget could not be closed) -we modified the unreported to 0 Since the destination uncertainty is larger than the source uncertainty, the "unreported" amount was negative here (-68: budget could not be closed) -we modified the unreported to 0 Since the destination uncertainty is larger than the source uncertainty, the "unreported" amount was negative here (-5: budget could not be closed) -

Table 1 -
An overview of the results from Method 1 (Material Flow Analysis) and Method 2 (mismanagement model) showing the sources (in yellow) and destinations (in blue) of Dutch plastic waste, properly managed (in blue) and mismanaged (in orange), in 2017.Tables are separated into (a) average (b), low, and (c) high estimates, which are summarised in Table3in the main text using the average value, +/-the high and low estimates.The mismanagement model results are also shown in (d) for average, (e) for low, and (f) for high mismanagement estimates.Further breakdowns or details to reach all estimates are found in TablesS2-S6.All values in italics (the last two rows in Tables a-c) are not included to compute the total waste generated; note that summing the % Destination totals will not sum to 100% due to this (see Fig.2in the main text to see the intermediary steps of some waste streams being sent to recycling and then to landfills, for example)."NA" stands for not applicable, data sources are in column Y and other specific notes are in column Z. %

of total waste generated % of total waste generated Average estimate mismanagement (plastic enterering the environment) Low estimate mismanagement (plastic enterering the environment) High estimate mismanagement (plastic enterering the environment)
Waste collected and treated by or for municipalities.It covers waste from households, including bulky waste, similar waste from commerce and trade, office buildings, public institutions and small businesses, as well as yard and garden waste, street sweepings, the contents of litter containers, and market cleansing waste if managed as household waste.The definition excludes waste from municipal sewage networks and treatment, as well as waste from construction and demolition activities(OECD, 2021)Supplementary Table 2 -(a) Subcategories in household plastic packaging and non-packaging from the Rijkswaterstaat database (personal communication, RWS).The net mass waste generated in 2017 and destinations are shown.Examples of the items found in the categories are also shown in the final column.(b)Afurther breakdown of the types of items generated and classified within the municipal solid waste.Both gross and net weights are included where possible.Data from a report on mixed MSW(Rijkswaterstaat, 2021).

Table 3
-(a)The total amount of e-waste, fraction of plastic in e-waste and mass of plastic in e-waste [kt] within each EU-6 category of Waste generated from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (e-waste).The destinations for each category are provided.Examples of items found in each category are provided far right.(b) The waste generated and destination of the fraction of plastics in e-waste that are composed of Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) -they are all sent to hazardous waste incineration plants.

Table 4 -
The sources and destinations of the synthetic component (plastic) in waste from textiles and clothing that are: (a) generated within the Netherlands and imported and (b) exported from the Netherlands.All data comes from the Ffact report: Hopstaken et al. 2020*.We assumed a 63% synthetic fraction based on the Fiber Year 2019 global data.**