Approximately one eighth (11.8%) of materials used in the European Union came from recycling last year, with the bloc’s circularity rate rising by 0.3 percentage points.
According to the Eurostat data, the circularity rate was highest in the Netherlands, where close to a third (30.6%) of materials were recycled, followed by Italy (20.8%) and Malta (19.8%).
In contrast, Romania (1.3%), Ireland (2.3%) and Finland (2.4%) boasted the lowest circularity rate in the European Union last year.
Sector by sector
On a sector-by-sector basis, the highest circularity rate in the EU last year was for metal ores, which stood at 24.7%, an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to 2022.
This was followed by non-metallic minerals, where the circularity rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 13.6%, and biomass at 10.1%, which saw a rise of 0.7 percentage points.
Fossil fuel materials reported a circularity rate of 3.4% last year, although this also represented an improvement of 0.6 percentage points.
The European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan, introduced in 2020, sets a target to double the EU’s circular material use rate by 2030, aiming to achieve a circular material use rate of 23.2%.
All numbers in the table below are based on estimated data, apart from Luxembourg. Read more here.
Circularity rate by EU member state, 2023 (%)
| Country | Circularity Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Netherlands | 30.6 |
| Italy | 20.8 |
| Malta | 19.8 |
| Belgium | 19.7 |
| Estonia | 18.1 |
| France | 17.6 |
| Austria | 14.3 |
| Germany | 13.9 |
| Czechia | 12.8 |
| Slovakia | 10.6 |
| Luxembourg | 10.2 |
| Sweden | 9.9 |
| Denmark | 9.1 |
| Slovenia | 8.8 |
| Spain | 8.5 |
| Poland | 7.5 |
| Croatia | 6.2 |
| Hungary | 5.9 |
| Cyprus | 5.4 |
| Greece | 5.2 |
| Latvia | 5.0 |
| Bulgaria | 4.9 |
| Lithuania | 3.9 |
| Portugal | 2.8 |
| Finland | 2.4 |
| Ireland | 2.3 |
| Romania | 1.3 |
