Plastic Recycling Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the plastic recycling market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global plastic recycling market reached a value of nearly $45.3 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.95% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $45.3 billion in 2023 to $62.9 billion in 2028 at a rate of 6.80%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.29% from 2028 and reach $89.5 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from growth in plastic consumption, shift towards sustainable investing, growth in demand for plastic products, environmental awareness and concerns about plastic pollution. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were limited recycling infrastructure.

Going forward, rising focus towards plastic waste management, rising demand for sustainable packaging, increased attention to automotive plastic reduction, government initiatives and investments will drive the market growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the plastic recycling market in the future include skilled labor shortages.

The plastic recycling market is segmented by type into polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and other types. The polyethylene terephthalate market was the largest segment of the plastic recycling market segmented by type, accounting for 52% or $23.6 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the polypropylene segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the plastic recycling market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 8.21% during 2023-2028.

The plastic recycling market is segmented by source into bottles, films, foams, fibers and other sources. The bottles market was the largest segment of the plastic recycling market segmented by source, accounting for 61.7% or $27.9 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the foams segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the plastic recycling market segmented by source, at a CAGR of 8.52% during 2023-2028.

The plastic recycling market is segmented by end use into packaging, automotive, building and construction, electrical and electronics and other end uses. The packaging market was the largest segment of the plastic recycling market segmented by end use, accounting for 39.9% or $18.1 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the building and construction segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the plastic recycling market segmented by end use, at a CAGR of 8.04% during 2023-2028.

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the plastic recycling market, accounting for 39.5% or $17.9 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by North America, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the plastic recycling market will be Asia Pacific and Western Europe where growth will be at CAGRs of 7.8% and 6.5% respectively. These will be followed by North America and South America where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 6.5% and 5.9% respectively.

The global plastic recycling market is fragmented, with presence of a large number of players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up 6.7% of the total market in 2022. The market fragmentation can be attributed to the presence of large number of players in different geographies. Veolia Environnement S.A. was the largest competitor with a 2.4% share of the market, followed by Suez S.A. with 1.4%, Remondis SE & Co. with 0.9%, ALBA Group with 0.7%, Biffa plc with 0.4%, Kuusakoski Group Oy with 0.3%, Waste Management, Inc with 0.3%, KW Plastics with 0.1%, Waste Connections Inc with 0.1% and Jayplas with 0.1%.

The top opportunities in the plastic recycling market segmented by type will arise in the polyethylene terephthalate segment, which will gain $9.7 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the plastic recycling market segmented by source will arise in the bottles segment, which will gain $9.9 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the plastic recycling market segmented by end use will arise in the packaging segment, which will gain $7.5 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The plastic recycling market size will gain the most in China at $4.8 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the plastic recycling market include focusing on the development of advanced technologies such as chemical recycling technology to enhance the efficiency, focusing on actively creating robotic systems, specifically waste sorting robots, to streamline and improve waste sorting processes, ultimately enhancing recycling efficiency and sustainability, focusing on the development of AI-enabled recycling equipment to enhance operational efficiency, improve sorting accuracy, focusing on advancing plastic recycling efforts by investing in state-of-the-art recycling facilities to enhance processing capacity, focusing on innovative products, such as additive platforms for plastic recycling, focus on collaborating to drive innovation, sustainability and circular economy initiatives.

Player-adopted strategies in the plastic recycling market include focus on strategic collaborations to expand their business and develop the business expertise, focus on strategic acquisitions to expand their business and develop the business expertise.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the plastic recycling companies to focus on advancing chemical recycling technology, focus on implementing waste sorting robots, focus on AI-enabled recycling equipment, focus on state-of-the-art recycling facilities, focus on PET and polypropylene segments for plastic recycling growth, focus on films and foams segments, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on collaborative innovation for plastic recycling, provide competitively priced offerings, continue to use B2B promotions, participate in trade shows and events and focus on packaging and building & construction segments.