For 2026, Plastic Overshoot Day lands on
September 6th
Sept. 6th
Plastic… is… everywhere
Plastic is present in nearly every part of daily life, and its effects are documented with increasing precision, in the environment and in the human body. Recent research has found microplastics in blood, lungs, and placental tissue, and identified health risks linked to plastic additives and chemical exposure. The consequences of plastic production, consumption, and disposal for climate, biodiversity, and human health are increasingly well characterized.
Plastic Overshoot Day addresses one specific dimension of this problem: waste mismanagement. Plastic pollution is a multi-dimensional issue; this report isolates a measurable question: how much plastic waste is generated each year, and whether existing waste management systems can handle it.
Each year, plastic waste generation reaches a point beyond the world’s capacity to manage it. That point is Plastic Overshoot Day. In 2026, it falls on September 6th.
It’s time for action
Plastic Overshoot Day tracks the gap between plastic waste generation and the capacity to manage it. It does not argue for or against specific waste management approaches; it quantifies the scale of that gap.
Closing this gap requires coordinated action across three levers: reducing plastic waste at the source, expanding waste management infrastructure, and building circular systems that prevent plastic from entering the waste stream as pollution in the first place.
Globally in 2026, a staggering 31.6% of plastic waste will be mismanaged at the end of its life, with the risk of this waste ending up in oceans. This means
tons of additional plastic waste will end up in nature this year.
Every country has its own Plastic Overshoot Day! Explore the Details for Your Country
A country’s overshoot day incorporates the amount of waste generated by the population and how well the waste is managed.
The story of a country’s Plastic Overshoot Day is built upon:
- the amount of plastic waste the population generates
- how well plastic is managed when it becomes waste
- how much plastic waste the country exports
- how much plastic waste the country imports
Contribution to Plastic Overshoot Day by country
In 2026, there are 116 days of plastic overshoot, meaning that the plastic waste produced during these days will not be well managed. Each country contributes to a portion of this plastic overshoot, according to the total amount of plastic waste they mismanage.
Is it getting better or worse?
Plastic Overshoot Day mirrors how well the world manages its plastic waste: the later in the year it falls, the smaller the share of plastic waste that ends up mismanaged. At the country level, this can reflect lower plastic consumption, a stronger waste management system, or both.
Since 2021, POD has been pushed a little closer to December every year by a few days, indicating a slight improvement in global waste management.
However, there has been a consistent rise in global plastic waste generation, from 202 million tons in 2021 to 227 million tons in 2026. Therefore, despite an improvement in plastic waste management practices, the overall quantity of mismanaged plastic waste continues to grow, from around 69 million tons in 2021 to close to 72 million tons in 2026.
Methodology
EA is a research consultancy uniting strong scientific research with meaningful analysis and actionable recommendations to empower individuals and organizations working on pressing environmental issues. A key tenet of EA’s philosophy and commitment to support collective problem-solving is transparency.
The Plastic Overshoot Day is estimated and published annually. Revisions to calculations and scope may occur between yearly publications due to improved data and new findings taking place over time. Therefore, for consistency with the latest reported data and scientific understanding, Overshoot dates for past years are recalculated in every new publication, ensuring each year’s metrics share a common dataset and calculation methods. Values may be readjusted compared to previous communications. Consequently, we advise readers to consistently consult the latest Plastic Overshoot Day publication for reliable comparisons. Relying on media reports from past years may yield inaccurate conclusions.
Check out a detailed description about Plastic Overshoot Day in the expanded methodology.
Country Profiles
Plastic Overshoot Day aims to offer insights into interventions that countries can use to reduce overall plastic waste and in particular, mitigate mismanaged plastic waste, therefore prolonging their overshoot date.
While recognizing that each country has unique realities related to plastic pollution – including plastic usage levels, waste management infrastructure, and relevant policies – Plastic Overshoot Day looked to establish categories so that countries could be profiled and relevant and meaningful solutions could be presented and explored.
Recommendations
The UN Plastic Treaty represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spark global action against plastic pollution. However, to achieve this, the treaty must be adequately scoped, negotiated, ratified, and enforced with high ambition. Anything less is simply not an option.
To this end, the following must happen:
Recommendation 1
Global plastic production must be capped and gradually reduced.
Despite current pledges and waste management capacity increases, planned production increases will lead to plastic pollution almost doubling by 2040. This trajectory is unacceptable, and production capacity capping is necessary to reduce plastic pollution over time.
Recommendation 2
Plastics not designed for circular use must be phased out.
Circular economy solutions, when applied at scale, can reduce annual volumes of plastic pollution by at least 80% by 2040 compared to business-as-usual.
Recommendation 3
To ensure global participation, innovative finance and capacity-building are essential for developing and implementing national legislation and action plans.
Outcome-based financial mechanisms should be embraced by businesses and governments. These modalities incentivize measurable reductions and bridge the funding gap hindering progress on plastic pollution mitigation efforts.
Recommendation 4
Governments and businesses must be held accountable through mandatory disclosure and reporting.
Businesses, for instance, must shift from disclosing their input of waste (e.g., “100% of our plastics are recyclable”) to disclosing their output of waste and its fate (e.g., “27% of our plastic is mismanaged and ends up in the environment”).
Recommendation 5
Global North countries that export their waste to Global South countries must be held accountable for supporting infrastructure development in importing countries by at least the volume they export annually.
Behind Plastic Overshoot Day
EA For Impact is a Swiss non-profit association that develops science-based methodologies and open-access research to close sustainability knowledge gaps and support decision-makers.
Funded by EA Earth Action SA and by philanthropic contributions, it works with NGOs, policymakers, and technical experts through initiatives including Plastic Overshoot Day, the Plastic Footprint Network, Swiss Plastic Action, and Swiss Climate Action. Plastic Overshoot Day builds on the data model developed for the Packaging Data Hub. For this report, that model has been extended to non-packaging plastic waste, including textiles and other household waste, at both country and polymer level.
The Packaging Data Hub is co-led by Systemiq and EA. It provides harmonised, expert-validated data on plastic packaging materials, formats, and end-of-life outcomes across more than 75 countries, combining an open-access tool for public use with a more granular data platform for industry, government, and civil society.
The Hub is guided by a technical advisory board and developed in alignment with a group of strategic partners, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Consumer Goods Forum, WWF, the Global Plastic Action Partnership, WRAP, and CDP. Greyparrot, an AI analytics provider for the recycling sector, is the Hub’s lead data partner. Philanthropic support comes from EIT Food and the Röchling Foundation. Each dataset is scored for reliability and validated country by country with local experts, giving companies, regulators, and investors a shared, verifiable reference point for packaging performance in place of the fragmented data currently available across markets.
More information, including access to the data explorer, is available at
www.packagingdata.earth.
As with all EA For Impact initiatives, Plastic Overshoot Day is committed to transparency, raising awareness about plastic pollution, and driving sustainable solutions to address a pressing global challenge.
Scope for better impact
Partners
We express our sincere gratitude to our esteemed partners for their invaluable support and unwavering dedication to the Plastic Overshoot Day initiative, exemplifying a profound commitment to combatting plastic pollution and fostering a more sustainable future.
The team behind Plastic Overshoot Day is grateful to the Global Footprint Network and their Earth Overshoot Day initiative, an inspiring example for establishing understandable benchmarks and empowering global citizens to better conceptualize the environmental challenges affecting our planet.
Voices on Plastic Overshoot Day report 2025
Support
Thank you for supporting Plastic Overshoot Day, an initiative by EA For impact, a not-for-profit organization. Your contribution will go towards further development of empowering materials that can be used by all those working towards action and dissemination of recommendations to effectively reduce plastic pollution around the globe.
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