The EU's circular material use rate has stagnated at a very low level for years.

Omissions

• The rate is not perfectly flat: it edged up to 12.2% in 2024 (about +0.1 pp year-on-year) and rose in 21 Member States, so the trend is marginal growth rather than absolute stagnation.
• The characterisation 'very low level' is a qualitative judgement; the figure should be read against the EU's own 2030 benchmark of 22.4%/24%, which makes 12.2% low by policy standards.
• No 2025 reference-year data for the circular material use rate existed at the time of the session (21 October 2026); 2024 is the latest reference year available, so the claim was verified against the most recent data.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat Statistics Explained — Circular economy: material flows"In 2024, the rate of circularity of material use in the EU was 12.2%, 4 percentage points (pp) up from 2004." (data extracted November 2025)
• PrimaryEuropean Environment Agency — Circular material use rate in Europe (indicator)"Meeting the target of doubling the CMUR would mean an increase from 12.2% (2024) to 22.4% by 2030. This requires the CMUR to grow annually by more than 1.7 percentage points, which is more than the total increase achieved over the period 2010-2024. Therefore, the EU is not on track to double the CMUR by 2030."
• SecondaryEUWID Recycling and Waste Management — EU circularity rate increases by just one percentage point in ten years"In 2024, 12.2 per cent of the material resources used in the EU came from recycled materials. According to Eurostat data, the circularity rate has increased by only one percentage point over the past decade."