All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodies
An official website of the European Union | How do you know?
Environmental information systems
EN
The indicator shows the share of material recovered and fed back into the economy – and thus saving extraction of primary raw materials – in overall material use.
The circular material use rate (CMUR) measures the share of materials from recycling in the total material input into the economy. In Germany, the CMUR increased slightly from around 11.2% in 2010 to 13.9% in 2023, above the EU-27-average of 11.8%. CMUR data provided by Eurostat do not directly allow for analysis by raw material group. However, such information is available, for example from national-level studies for some years. The CMUR is the lowest for fossil fuels, at 2%, while it is highest for metal ores, at about 30% (e.g. due to fairly good metal recyclability). The rates for non-metallic minerals and biomass are about 17–18% and 7–8%, respectively.
In line with the EU target, Germany aims to double the CMUR by 2030 [2]. Extrapolating historical trends into the future, this goal seems difficult to reach. However, policy measures aiming to reduce primary raw material use and enhance recycling, as summarised in the national circular economy strategy, can help reach the target.
References and footnotes
- ↵Dittrich, M., Limberger, S., Ewers, B., Stalf, M., Knappe, F. et al., Sekundärrohstoffe in Deutschland, Institut für Energie-und Unweltforschung Heidelberg, Heidelberg, 2021, https://www.ifeu.de/publikation/sekundaerrohstoffe-in-deutschland.
- ↵Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, The National Circular Economy Strategy, Berlin, 2024, https://www.bmuv.de/en/download/the-national-circular-economy-strategy-summary.