Germany has topped the PMI plastics management index published by Back to Blue.

Back to Blue, an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation, has published the Plastics Management Index which measures and compares the efforts made by a 25 countries in their management of plastics, covering the entire lifecycle of plastic products.

Its goal is to assess each country’s capacity to minimise plastics mismanagement or leakages across the plastics lifecycle, while promoting the optimal production and use of plastic as a resource. The top ranking countries (out of 100) are:

Germany 87.4
Japan 84.5
France 78.9
United Kingdom 77.6
United States 77.1
Sweden 76.1

The total score in an index is made up of governance, systemic capacity and stakeholder management scores with the following elements:

GOVERNANCE SCORE RANK
Promiting responsible plastic production and consumption
Promiting safe and informed plastic usage
Plastic waste management
Operational enablers

SYSTEMIC CAPACITY
Oversight of management process
Efficient collection and sorting channels
Infrastructure to enable recycling
Investment in capacity-building to ensure sustainability of systems

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
National commitment through cooperation and adherence to international standards
National government-led approach to minimising plastic management
Private sector commitments on reduction and promoting responsible plastic use
Responsible consumer actions and perceptions

Germany ranks 1st out of 25 countries in the Index. The country also ranks 1st in both the Governance and Stakeholder Engagement categories.