This dataset contains information relating to the survival and persistence of Salmonella spp. on plastic and glass, under conditions simulant of a peri-urban waste pile. The data encompass bacterial strain identity, material type, timepoints (days), temperature (°C), bacterial concentration (CFU/ml), survival percentages, and regression parameters. Data were sampled over a 28-day period using culture-based approaches; and the ability of isolates to cause disease following their recovery was determined through the use of a Galleria mellonella model. This work was supported by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as part of the GCRF SPACES project [grant number NE/V005847/1] and the Plastic Vectors project, “Microbial hitch-hikers of marine plastics: the survival, persistence & ecology of microbial communities in the ‘Plastisphere’” [grant number NE/S005196/1]. Full details about this nonGeographicDataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9c3a1ae5-65d7-45c6-b6f3-1a955b17abff