1 Introduction

Reliable plastic statistics are crucial for addressing the global plastic pollution crisis, yet existing data is fragmented and often not comparable across countries (OECD, 2022b). The Nordic countries have initiated a joint effort to close critical data gaps by prioritising, harmonising, and developing key plastic statistics. This report presents the results of the initiative’s first two phases and sets a clear path towards robust, harmonised data for effective policy action.

One critical area of readiness is data. The UNEA mandate emphasises the need for countries to map plastic production, use and waste generation to support implementation, ensure comparability, and evaluate global progress (UNEP, 2022). This requires more than sporadic reporting – it requires coherent, standardised, and policy-relevant statistics.

The Nordic region is well positioned to contribute. Strong public institutions, environmental commitment, and digital capabilities create favourable conditions for evidence-based plastics governance. However, significant variation remains in how data is measured, estimated, and reported across the Nordics – and the full extent of these discrepancies is not yet fully understood.

Meanwhile, global plastic pollution is accelerating rapidly and is now recognised as one of the major environmental crises of our time (UNEP, 2022). Plastic production has increased exponentially – from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to over 460 million tonnes in 2019. Of this, only around 9% is recycled, with the vast majority accumulating in landfills, incineration plants, and ecosystems (OECD, 2022b; Ritchie et al., 2023). If trends continue, plastic production could almost triple by 2060, dramatically amplifying its environmental impacts (OECD, 2022a).impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and climate stability (OECD, 2022a).

Addressing this crisis requires reliable and harmonised statistics to support evidence-based policymaking at global, regional, and national levels. However, current data on plastic flows – such as production, consumption, waste generation, and recycling – remains fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult to compare between countries. Reliable and harmonised plastic statistics are urgently needed to:

Measure plastic impacts on environment, economy, and society.
Prioritise, identify and focus efforts on policies and actions that effectively reduce plastic pollution.
Continuously monitor progress, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and improve governance.

In response to these challenges, the Nordic Council of Ministers launched a regional initiative to systematically improve and harmonise plastic data across the Nordic countries. This report is a part of the second project under the initiative and builds on some of the challenges identified and high-level recommendations set out in the first project under the Nordic initiative, as outlined in the Nordic Council of Ministers’ 2024 summary report.

The 2024 Nordic Council of Ministers’ summary report (“Better and harmonized statistics on plastic material flows”) identified nine key statistical challenges—from poor traceability of waste exports and limited polymer-level product data to inconsistent methods. It recommended, among other actions, (i) strengthened Nordic coordination on statistical methods (e.g. adapting UNITAR’s Plastic-KEYs, harmonising CN-code use), (ii) more detailed digital waste-shipment data, and (iii) regular updates of key indicators (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2024). This report follows up by prioritising data points, assessing their status across Nordic countries, and providing a cost–benefit screen—validated in a regional expert workshop—as input to the next phase of harmonisation.

The Nordic initiative can directly support international policy efforts, including the ongoing UN negotiations toward a legally binding global plastics treaty (UNEP, 2022).

Our project consists of two phases and this report presents the results from phase 1 and parts of phase 2:

Phase 1 focused on identifying the most relevant plastic data flows, assessing the availability and comparability of current data, and evaluating the cost–benefit of harmonising and increasing the availability of each data point.
Phase 2 consisting of a Nordic expert workshop. This to provide a status on the harmonisation and demand of plastic statistics in the Nordics as well as a description of the challenges and recommendations moving forward.

Other results from phase 2 are available in the report Nordic plastic statistics.

1.1 Objective & scope

The overarching aim of this project is to support the development and harmonisation of plastic-related statistics in the Nordic region, with the long-term goal of enabling each country to establish a national inventory on plastics. To achieve this, the project has been structured around two main objectives:

To prioritise the most important plastic-related data and flows to improve or harmonise across the Nordic countries – such as production volumes, consumption by sector, trade flows, waste generation and recycling.
To initiate development and harmonisation efforts for a selection of these priority data points, including testing of methodological approaches and data frameworks.

Leakage of plastics to the environment, as well as microplastic, is excluded from the scope of this project.

The geographic scope includes Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland. Greenland was excluded early on due to limited availability of key informants. Due to differences in institutional structures and data availability, some components of the analysis have focused on a subset of these countries.

1.2 Glossary

Table 1 An overview of key terms used in the report.

Term	Definition
Data point	A single quantifiable observation or metric, such as "tonnes of plastic waste generated per year". Serves as input to indicators.
Indicator	A summary measure, derived from one or more data points, that tracks change over time or compares performance against targets (e.g. plastic-packaging recycling rate) (Eurostat, 2014).
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)	Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy approach that holds producers accountable for their products throughout the entire lifecycle, including after consumer use. This includes responsibility for collection, treatment, and recycling. EPR aims to promote sustainability, increase recycling, and reduce environmental impact.
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)	A systematic, mass-balance-based method for quantifying material stocks and flows within a defined time and space boundary (Eurostat, 2020).
Primary plastic	Plastic polymerised for the first time from virgin fossil or bio-based feedstock.
Secondary plastic	Reprocessed from post-consumer or post-industrial plastic waste for use as a raw material.
Put on Market (POM)	The mass (or number of units) of plastic products supplied for the first time for distribution, consumption or use in a given market during a defined period (‘placing on the market’).