Table 6.
Processes and mass flow of plastic in 2019 (tons).
| Primary plastic | Plastic product | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production | 1,380,000 (EUROMAP, 2016) | 2,195,162 (StatsSA, 2020a) | 3,575,162 |
| Consumption (Virgin) | 1,504,000 (Plastics SA, 2020) | 1,504,000 | |
| Consumption (Recycled) | 337,745 (Plastics SA, 2020) | 337,745 | |
| Consumption | 2,441,363 (Mass balance) | 2,441,363 | |
| Imports | 813,274 (UNComtrade, 2020) | 436,831 (UNComtrade, 2020) | 1,250,105 |
| Exports | 357,789 (UNComtrade, 2020) | 190,630 (UNComtrade, 2020) | 548,419 |
| Stock-in | 331,485 (Mass balance) | 585,927 (Mass balance) | 917,412 |
| Stock-out | 616,836 (Mass balance) | 616,836 | |
| Waste generated | 1,855,436 (Mass balance) | ||
| Waste landfilled | 1,669,892 (Mass balance) | ||
| Waste for recycling | 352,500 (Plastics SA, 2020) | ||
| Waste imports | 17,000 (Plastics SA, 2020) | ||
| Waste exports | 14,755 (Plastics SA, 2020) | ||
| Production waste | 263,419 (Computation) |