Circularity Gap Report 2023
Released by Circle Economy
According to the latest Circularity Gap Report 2023, the global economy is now only 7.2% circular. This stood at 9.1 % in 2018.
The global situation is getting worse year on year—driven by rising material extraction and use.
Rising material extraction has shrunk global circularity: from 9.1% in 2018, to 8.6% 2020, and now 7.2% in 2023. This leaves a huge Circularity Gap: the globe almost exclusively relies on new (virgin) materials. This means more than 90% of materials are either wasted, lost or remain unavailable for reuse for years as they are locked into long-lasting buildings and machinery.” with: “This means that more than 90% of materials are either wasted, lost or remain unavailable for reuse for years as they are locked into long-lasting stock such as buildings and machinery.
Materials that are cycled back into the global economy after the end of their useful life, otherwise known as secondary materials, account for 7.2% of all material inputs into the economy—this is the Circularity Metric.
MATERIAL EXTRACTION IS RISING EVERY YEAR
Each year we have smashed through the planet’s safe environmental limits. Today, five of the nine key ‘planetary boundaries’ that measure environmental health across land, water and air have been broken. A circular economy could reverse this by reducing global material extraction and use by one-third.