11.8% of material resources used last year in the EU came from recycled productswhich represents a new historical record, with the highest rate in the Netherlands (30.6%) and the lowest in Romania (1.3%).
The circularity rate is the proportion of material resources used that come from recycled products and recovered materials, which saves the extraction of primary raw materials.
According to Eurostat data, the circularity rate was 11.8% in the EU last year, three tenths of a percentage point higher than in 2022. Spain was in 15th position, with 8 .5%.
Netherlands (30.6%), Italy (20.8%), Malta (19.8%), Belgium (19.7%), Estonia (18.1%)France (17.6%), Austria (14.3%), Germany (13.9%) and the Czech Republic (12.8%) exceeded the community average.
On the other hand, the countries that used the least recycled products were Romania (1.3%), Ireland (2.3%), Finland (2.4%), Portugal (2.8%), Lithuania (3.9%) and Bulgaria (4.9%). .
Last year’s circularity rate was the highest since at least 2004, when the historic series for the entire EU begins. Behind them are 2018 (11.6), 2017 and 2022 (11.5) and 2014 (11.4).
Differences in circularity rates between EU countries are based not only on the amount of recycling in each state, but also on structural factors of national economies.
According to the main material type, the utilization rate of circular materials was highest in metallic minerals (24.7%), ahead of non-metallic minerals (13.6%), biomass (10.1%) and fossil energy materials or supports (3.4%).
The Circular Economy Action Plan 2020 aims to double the rate of use of circular materials in the EU by 2030 to 23.2%.
Countries since 2010
On the other hand, the Eurostat national data series, which begins in 2010 and collected by Servimedia, indicates that the Netherlands is the country that has always dominated the classification of the use of recycled products, with second place for Italy in 2023, Belgium from 2018 to 2022France between 2013 and 2017, Estonia in 2012 and Luxembourg in 2010 and 2011.
On the contrary, Romania has been closing the table since 2015after Latvia in 2010 and 2012, Portugal in 2011 and Ireland in 2013.
Malta is the country that increased its circularity rate the most between 2010 and 2023 (14.5 percentage points more), ahead of Italy (9.2) and Estonia (9.1), with Spain in fifth place from the bottom (-1.9), a figure barely better than those of Romania (-2.2), Poland (-3.6), Finland (-8.3) and Luxembourg (-13.2).
