This study aimed to establish a Material Flow Analysis model (MFA) for the whole value chain of plastics in the EU-27 in 2022, from polymers production to end-of-life plastic management and recyclates production.

The MFA analysis focused on nine sectors (Packaging, Construction, Transport, Electronic, Agriculture, Textiles, Healthcare, Fishing and ‘Other’). Thanks to the granularity of data achieved in this study, these sectors were further detailed via polymer-specific MFAs, capturing a total of 15 different polymers.

Results indicated that packaging and construction are the most important sectors among those assessed, contributing respectively to 33.9% and 18.3% of total plastic consumption. The average end-of-life recycling rate among all sectors is 19.6%.