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The EU aims to double recycled material use, in terms of its share of the economy's total material use, between 2020 and 2030 to reach 22.4% by 2030. A goal set in the 8th Environmental Action Programme, an ambition confirmed and even slightly increased to 24% in the Clean Industrial Deal. Increasing the use of secondary materials relatively reduces the demand for primary raw materials and their associated environmental impacts. Secondary materials accounted for 12.2% of total material use in 2024, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared with 2010. This slow progress, along with projected increased material demand by 2030, implies that the EU is currently not on track to double the circular material use rate by 2030.
Figure 1. Circular material use rate in the EU and breakdown by material group between 2010 and 2023
The EU’s circular economy action plan aims to reduce pressure on natural resources and double its circular material use rate (CMUR) between 2020 and 2030. Recent initiatives, like the EU Clean Industrial Deal, reinforce this commitment by slightly increasing the target to 24% in 2030
The CMUR measures the circularity of materials in the economy and refers to the share of the total amount of material used in the economy that comes from recycled waste. Improving the CMUR, either by increasing the use of recycled materials and/or decreasing the amount of primary materials used mitigates the adverse impacts on the environment and climate of primary material extraction and processing. A reduction in the EU’s reliance on primary resources, particularly imported materials, would in turn lead to an increased EU economic security. This means the EU would increase its ability to meet its own needs, without relying excessively on third countries.
Although the EU’s CMUR has increased slightly in the last 14 years, from 10.7% in 2010 to 12.2% in 2024, it is still considered low compared to the frontrunner EU Member States that achieve a higher share, indicating the economy is mostly linear. The positive trend until 2022 is mainly due to increases in waste recycling efforts (almost 9% increase between 2010 and 2022 with domestic material consumption stable in the same period), driven by many factors, including EU recycling targets, improved technologies and an improving economic viability of circular solutions. Meanwhile, domestic material consumption has dropped sharply between 2022 and 2024 (9% decrease, explained mainly by a drop in consumption of metals) which increases the CMUR.
Non-metallic minerals account for more than 50% of total material consumption and their CMUR has increased slightly since 2010. The CMURs increased also for biomass and fossil-based materials between 2010 and 2024. The CMURs for the various material groups differ significantly with 23.4% for metal ores in 2024 and only 3.8% for fossil materials. This reflects the different nature of materials and their use. Metals are technically easier and more economical to recycle, feeding back into the economy. Fossil fuels are mostly burned and thus cannot be recycled.
Circular economy measures aim to retain the value and prolong the lifespan of products helping to reduce resource consumption and, in turn, lower environmental and climate impacts. Meeting the target of doubling the CMUR would mean an increase from 12.2% (2024) to 22.4% by 2030. This requires the CMUR to grow annually by more than 1.7 percentage points, which is more than the total increase achieved over the period 2010-2024. Therefore, the EU is not on track to double the CMUR by 2030, nor to achieve the 24% target stated in the Clean Industrial Deal, also considering OECD projections of increased future materials demand. The latter is important as increasing recycling alone will not allow the EU to achieve the target.
Increased recycling and/or reduced material use is required. Increasing the re-use and recycling of heavier material groups like non-metallic minerals and metals has a greater potential for increasing the CMUR. Since material extraction has different environmental impacts, measures should also focus on reducing the consumption of fossil energy materials and increasing the sustainability of biomass production in view of reducing environmental pressures.
Figure 2. Circular material use rate by EU country
Considerable differences in CMURs are observed between countries, ranging from 32.7% (in the Netherlands) to 1.3% (in Romania) in 2024. This reflects significant structural difference in countries’ recycling systems and in their levels of material use . In the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Estonia, more than 20% (one of five tonnes) of material used was recycled material. The CMUR level for the Netherlands and Belgium is already higher than the EU target for 2030, suggesting that such rates are achievable.
Most (22 out of 27) countries’ CMURs have increased since 2010. The largest absolute CMUR increases (more than ten percentage points) were seen in Malta, Estonia and Italy. Some countries show impressive relative increases in their CMURs, with Latvia, Croatia and Matla more than tripling their CMURs between 2010 and 2024. On the other hand, significant decreases (more than 50%) in CMURs were seen in Finland, Romania and Luxembourg.