A recent report reveals global recycling rates are stagnating, with only 6.9% of materials coming from recycled sources, down 2.2% since 2015. The rapid rise in consumption and the ineffective recycling strategies lead to more waste than systems can manage. Even an ideal recycling scenario would achieve only 25% due to difficulties in processing many materials. The Circle Economy urges for systemic change and consumer responsibility to unlock circular solutions and manage resources sustainably. While awareness has increased, the usage of virgin materials continues to grow faster than recycled ones, creating a pressing waste crisis.
Only 6.9% of the 106bn tonnes of materials used annually by the global economy came from recycled sources, a 2.2 percentage point drop since 2015.
Even if all recyclable goods were recycled, global recycling rates would only reach 25%, meaning that consumption must be slashed in order to tackle a growing global waste crisis.
Our analysis is clear: even in the ideal world, we cannot solve the triple planetary crisis by mere recycling. The much-needed systemic change requires fundamental change.
From 2018 to 2021, the use of recycled materials used in manufacturing has also increased by 200m tonnes, but this increase has been outpaced by the growth in use of virgin materials.
Collection
[
|
...
]