Definition: the share of material recycled and fed back into the economy in overall material use. The rate of circular material use, also known as circularity rate is defined as the ratio of the circular use of materials to the overall material use. The circular use of materials is approximated by the amount of waste recycled in domestic recovery plants (see indicator waste recycling), minus imported waste destined for recovery and plus exported waste destined for recovery abroad. The overall material use is measured by summing up the aggregate domestic material consumption and the circular use of materials. The data come from Eurostat.

Goal: circular material use must increase.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 12.5: “By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse”.

International comparison: the circular material use in Belgium is above the European average and increased from 13,6% in 2010 to 22,2% in 2022, while it was stable in the EU27 (about 11,2%). In 2022, only the Netherlands perform better than Belgium. In that year, the Netherlands ranked first with 27,5% and Finland last with 0,6%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator is linked to indicator 12.5.1 - National recycling rate, tons of material recycled.

Sources

• SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

• Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

• UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

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