This report provides a new way of thinking about plastics as an effective global material flow aligned with the principles of the circular economy. It also defines an action plan for the global plastics industry to design better packaging, increase recycling rates, and introduce new models for making better use of packaging. It combines the main insights from the two previously published reports by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation with the support of the World Economic Forum: The New Plastics Economy – Rethinking the Future of Plastics, in 2016, and The New Plastics Economy – Catalysing Action, in 2017.