Is access to data a barrier to achieving sustainability in the plastic value chain? 

Several estimates on plastic use and waste in the Norwegian economy exist today. However, these estimates have some degree of uncertainty due to poor quality of data or significant data gaps. This can be improved by the use of additional information that is either not available or reported today or is not open access due to its competitive nature. 

Unlike many countries in the EU, Norway has a few economic sectors that are heavily dependent on plastic equipment and components. And it is challenging to transit to recycled plastic or alternative materials within aquaculture and fisheries.It is roughly estimated that plastic waste in Norway will increase by 90% in volume by 2050, but the infrastructure to handle all the waste is not in place.

Sources: (Mepex, 2020), (Abbasi et al., 2023), (Systemiq, 2023), (SSB, 2023), (Mahroon et al., 2024).

The studies summarized above have quantified plastic flows with different system boundaries and both a bottom up as well as a top-down approach. The findings from the existing literature conclude that the biggest stocks are within the buildings and infrastructure sectors whereas plastic packaging has the biggest yearly inflow and outflow.

The estimated amount of plastic in the Norwegian economy is within the same order of magnitude and there are some limitations due to data availability in each of the studies.  

Inaccurate data on material composition of products, packaging and additives pose a challenge to efficiently implement circularity in the plastic value chains and increased transparency and accounting is key in sustainably managing plastic in the Norwegian and global economy.

Incorporating open data-sharing platforms can enhance data reliability and accessibility. Likewise, establishing uniform data formats, standardized reporting guidelines, and shared methodologies would enable more accurate benchmarking, ensure comparability, and support international cooperation. 

In addition, growing food consumption coupled with an increased online shopping, it is expected that the packaging of consumer products will increase drastically as well. 

A UN treaty is needed

It is vital to have a UN treaty in place as soon as possible if we intend to increase the reuse of plastic waste and reduce the 91% of global plastic waste currently being improperly disposed.   

For the reuse of plastic, in addition to the total amount available for reuse, knowledge of the polymer composition of products and additives is extremely important. Plastic additives can have both positive and negative effects on recycling​. Some additives can preserve the integrity of the plastic thus making it more suitable for recycling whereas various pigments can often pose as a barrier in recycling.   

Downstream actors in the value chain of plastic need a better overview of the volumes as well as the quality of plastic waste that will be available in the future in order to efficiently handle, reuse and recycle the large volumes. Reliable estimates for plastic waste that will be generated in the future are needed for identifying the potential for new players in the market.   

For circular business models that aim to re-use or re-purpose plastic products, an insight into the volumes of the products in use and in stock, are essential to efficiently plan logistics and operations around where the biggest stocks of plastic are.   

The main data gaps

Transparency and accounting is key in sustainably managing plastic. Here are the main gaps we uncovered. 

• A comprehensive list of imported and exported products containing plastic in Norway (consisting of the HS classification used in trade statistics).   

• Polymer composition of products containing plastic as well as plastic packaging   

• Information about the exact combination of additives used in different plastic applications is absent.  

• The categories of plastic waste are not standardized across different use sectors. Large number of collection companies have different categories of collected waste.  

• Micro-/nano-/dissolved plastic content in municipal wastewater. The analysis for plastic is not mandatory and therefore rarely done. Source: The Pollution Control Act.

Recommendations

• Increased transparency on product composition and additives used.   

• Improve data availability on plastic fractions in products,preferably specified in terms of either HS codes, PRODCOM or CN codes used in statistical data.    

• The amount of packaging material and polymer composition of packaging that is imported or sold along with goods must be registered or reported. At least for significantly large volumes of goods or products containing higher volume packaging, for instance electronics.  

• Standard categories of plastic waste across the sector should be implemented (different private companies use different types of categories for instance hard plastics, films)  

• Better information flow on the quality, lifespan, and the composition of products from the use phase to the recycling and regenerative phase should be enabled.   

PLASTICENE – Development of tools for increased resource utilisation, circularity and regulatory support of plastic use in Norway – SINTEF