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13 May 2025, São Paulo — Only 6.9% of the 106 billion tonnes of materials used annually by the global economy come from recycled sources—a 2.2 percentage point drop since 2015, according to a new report released today by Circle Economy in collaboration with Deloitte Global. The Circularity Gap Report 2025 (CGR®) finds that global material consumption is outpacing population growth and generating more waste than recycling systems can handle—underscoring the need for global circular economy targets, system-level transformation, and multilateral collaboration.
For the first time, CGR® analyses how materials flowing into, accumulating and flowing out of the global economy are contributing to, or hindering a circular economy—providing a comprehensive assessment of the current state and an initial set of proposed targets to help reduce material consumption and increase global circularity. Leveraging 11 circularity indicators, the analysis helps pinpoint how various levers (e.g., agricultural sustainability and infrastructure development) can be pulled to boost circularity, highlighting a vast wellspring of untapped potential.
Together with the CGR 2025, Circle Economy has launched the CGR® Dashboard —a database unlocking the millions of data points collected since the annual report’s inception, with the aim of democratising circularity data to enable policymakers, business leaders, and changemakers worldwide to make informed decisions.
While the use of recycled materials increased by 200 million tonnes from 2018 to 2021, overall material consumption rose much faster, offsetting these improvements. The report calls for reducing reliance on virgin materials by prioritising recycled content, enhancing resource efficiency throughout operations and value chains, and designing products for longevity through durable design, repairability, and modularity.
If we were to recycle all recyclable materials—without reducing consumption—global circularity could rise from 6.9% to 25%. However, doing so is unlikely in practice, as some materials remain too difficult or costly to recycle. That is why the report calls for measures that reduce overall material consumption alongside boosting recycling efforts.
The current recycling system is not only inadequate in addressing the global waste crisis but also inefficient. This represents an opportunity for business leaders across sectors to improve recycling systems and minimise waste generation through circular design principles, invest in infrastructure and technologies to improve waste collection, and explore high-value applications for waste.
Moreover, most recycled materials come from industrial and demolition waste, while household waste plays a minor role. Just 3.8% of all recycled materials originate from everyday items individual consumers use and discard.
‘'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. This means unlocking circular potential in stocks like buildings and infrastructure, managing biomass sustainably and stopping sending perfectly renewable materials to landfills. This change doesn’t happen outside ourselves. We all need to make different choices, be bold, and invest to implement circular solutions across value chains,’ said Ivonne Bojoh, CEO of Circle Economy.
The report calls for the establishment of global circular economy targets to lower material use and energy demand alongside increasing recycling rates. This can be achieved by promoting circular design principles, optimising the lifetime of existing products and components, and ensuring the use of recycled materials becomes the norm for businesses in all industries and regions.
Governments have an opportunity to help shape conditions for circularity through smart policies and multilateral collaboration. By setting a clear vision and supporting circular initiatives, they can create favourable conditions for circularity. This includes shifting tax burdens from labour to material use, reorienting subsidies from linear activities, and funding circular projects.
David Rakowski, partner, Deloitte UK, global leader for Circularity, said: “Business leaders who look beyond compliance to proactively embrace a circularity mindset can help their organisations unlock new value and market opportunities, reduce costs, and build long-term supply chain resilience. This year’s CGR offers leaders actionable insights to help them decide where to focus their circular efforts, make meaningful progress toward their sustainability goals, and build a resilient global economy that honours our planet's limits.”
Strong regional and international collaboration—across both the private and public sectors—will be key in successfully tackling resource use and reduction.
