Circular material use (i64)
- 31/10/2025
- objective
- assessment
In 2023, the circular material use, equaled 19.7% in Belgium. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must increase. Between 2010 and 2023, the trend is favourable (assessment of November 2025).
Circular material use - Belgium and international comparison
percentage of overall material use
| 2010 | 2015 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2023//2010 | 2023//2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 13.5 | 18.0 | 20.6 | 22.9 | 18.3 | 19.7 | 3.0 | -0.9 |
| EU27 | 10.7 | 11.2 | 11.6 | 11.2 | 11.5 | 11.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||
Source: Statbel; Eurostat (2025), Circular material use rate [cei_srm030], https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat, last update of data 13/11/2024 23:00 (consulted on 01/07/2025).
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”.
UN indicator: the selected indicator is linked to indicator 12.5.1 - National recycling rate, tons of material recycled.
At www.indicators.be the Federal Planning Bureau presents sustainable development indicators.
2025 © cic@plan.be