Recycling rates fail to keep up with global rise in consumption

Global recycling rates are failing to keep pace with a culture focused on infinite economic growth and consumerism, with the proportion of recycled materials re-entering supply chains falling for the eighth year running, according to a report.

- Damien Gayle

Only 6.9% of the 106bn tonnes of materials used annually by the global economy came from recycled sources, a 2.2 percentage point drop since 2015, researchers from the Circle Economy thinktank found.

The problem is systemic, they say: the rise in consumption is even more rapid than the growth in global population, and although some companies are increasing the amount of recycled material they use, the majority ignore the issue with no apparent penalties. This means that societies generate more waste than recycling systems can handle.

Even if all recyclable goods were recycled, which is unlikely as many goods are simply too difficult or costly to recycle, global recycling rates would reach only 25%, meaning that consumption must be cut in order to tackle a global waste crisis.