Most public recycling-rate figures measure tonnes collected for recycling — not tonnes that actually become a new product. The gap between the two numbers can be 20-30 percentage points for some plastic streams. For a Fortune 500 brand owner setting ESG targets, that gap is the difference between a defensible commitment and a target the next auditor will quietly dismantle.
The collection-rate trap
A typical national figure — "65% of plastic packaging is recycled" — is measured at the point of collection. It counts every tonne that enters a collection system labelled "recycling". It does not subtract the material that is sorted out as contamination at the MRF, the material that is rejected as off-spec at the reprocessor, or the material that ends up exported and incinerated in a downstream market. The headline rate is the input to the system, not the output.
CIRCPACK's real recycling rate
CIRCPACK measures the real recycling rate at the gate of the reprocessor — after sorting losses, after reprocessing rejects, after export-and-incinerate flows are stripped out. The figure is built from auditor observations on the MRF floor, from reprocessor input data shared under data-sharing agreements, and from cross-referenced national reporting. For most plastic streams it sits significantly below the headline collection rate; for some flexible-plastic streams it sits in the single digits.
Why brand owners care
An ESG target built on the headline collection rate is a target the brand owner can never actually meet through eco-design alone — the gap to real recycling is structural, not behavioural. Building targets on the real rate means the eco-design levers the brand owner controls (resin choice, label compatibility, sleeve removal) directly improve the figure being reported. That is the defensible position.
Where the data sits
Real recycling rates per market and per material are published on every country record on the Recycling Intelligence Platform. The headline collection rate is shown alongside, with the gap surfaced explicitly. Both figures cite their sources; the methodology behind the real rate is documented in the platform methodology explainer.
Talk to an expert if you want to see the real-rate methodology applied to your portfolio before resetting an ESG target.