How Far Has the World Come in Achieving a Circular Economy?

Unrestrained consumption is harming the planet and accelerating the unsustainable extraction of natural resources.

According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), the global economy consumes approximately 100 billion metric tonnes of resources annually, including fossil fuels, minerals, metals, and materials derived from plants and animals. Alarmingly, this extraction rate is projected to grow by 150% by 2060.

Consumerism, a major driver of economic growth in capitalist economies, is also fuelling widespread waste generation and pollution.

To tackle the problems of unsustainable resource extraction and escalating waste, both of which contribute to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, a circular economy offers a viable solution.

This holistic approach applies the principles of reducing, reusing, and recycling to create a more sustainable system.

What is a circular economy?

A circular economy examines a product’s entire lifecycle, from the extraction of raw materials to its end of life. It seeks to reduce overconsumption and its adverse consequences, such as rising greenhouse gas emissions, water stress, and waste generation.

The WRI outlined nine key findings on global progress toward a circular economy:

1. Resource consumption must be halved by 2050.
   The average person currently consumes around 12.6 metric tonnes of materials each year, roughly equivalent to the weight of 2.5 African elephants. This needs to drop below 5 tonnes per person by 2050. Reducing fashion-driven purchases and food waste are practical steps to achieve this.
   
2. A quarter of the world’s population consumes over half of the global resources.
   Consumption rates vary across nations. The top 10 consumers are China, the United States, India, Brazil, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Russia, Turkey, and Canada. Per capita, the top users are Canada, the United States, China, Germany, Turkey, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, and India.
   
3. Europe leads but still has room for improvement.
   The EU’s circular economy action plan promotes circular product design, yet only 12% of new products are made from recycled materials.
   
4. Municipal waste recycling is increasing, but not fast enough.
   OECD data shows that its 38 member countries recycle 35% of municipal waste. Achieving the EU’s 60% target by 2030 requires significant acceleration. High-income nations collect 96% of waste, compared to 36% in low-income countries.
   
5. More data is needed on bulk waste recycling.
   For example, in 2022, the EU reused or recycled 89% of vehicles at the end of their life. The average recycling rate in 23 EU countries and Japan was 54% as of 2020.
   
6. Resource productivity growth has slowed.
   Between 1970 and 2000, global economic output grew 2.7 times due to improvements in resource productivity. Since 2000, growth has stalled, with only a 4% improvement. Boosting efficiency and innovation could enhance output while using fewer resources.
   
7. Products are discarded earlier than expected.
   This is mainly due to consumers’ desire to upgrade and manufacturers’ planned obsolescence, which causes devices to degrade faster, common in smartphones and computers.
   
8. Seventy-five countries regulate single-use plastics.
   Measures include bans, taxes, and consumer fees. For example, France plans to phase out plastic packaging by 2040.
   
9. Over 2,200 companies track their circular economy performance.
   Indicators and standards are helping organisations monitor their progress and adopt circular business models.

Read the article: 9 Key Findings on Global Progress Toward a Circular Economy.

Closing the circularity gap

The article also highlights the social and environmental consequences of unsustainable extraction, such as child labour (involving 112 million children globally) and the health impacts of mining.

Creating a truly circular economy requires collective action:

• Consumers must reduce their material footprint.
• Businesses must design durable, recyclable products.
• Governments must enact policies that reward circular practices.

The Circular Economy organisation, a non-profit based in Amsterdam, publishes the annual “Circularity Gap Report 2025”, which tracks global progress since 2018. The 2025 report shows that although recycling is improving, the demand for virgin materials is rising even faster. The proportion of recycled materials in global use has fallen from 7.2% to 6.9%.

Global resource extraction has tripled over the past 50 years, reaching 100 billion tonnes per year, and is expected to grow by 60% by 2060. High-income countries consume six times more materials per person than low-income nations, while 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions stem from material production and use.

The report identifies four key sectors for circular transformation:

1. Housing and the built environment
2. Mobility and transport
3. Food and agriculture
4. Consumer goods (including electronics and textiles)

Currently, material consumption is outpacing efficiency improvements. Even if every recyclable material were recovered, global circularity would only reach 25%, far below what is needed.

A truly circular economy must be resource-light and structurally transformative, requiring changes across housing, manufacturing, and food systems. It calls for product longevity, improved recycling systems, and job creation in sustainable industries.

Download the “Circularity Gap Report 2025“.