To reduce sourcing of virgin materials, including many types of metals, plastics and wood fibers, producers can use recycled materials to close the material loop. These materials are already in the economy, having been recovered and reprocessed and made available for use.
This indicator is a measure of the share (by weight) of input material resources that are recycled. When selecting recycled materials, producers also need to consider factors like quality, going beyond just the availability of such materials. An increase in the share of recycled materials suggests that the recycled materials are meeting these requirements. The use of recycled material is an important metric to be measured and understood independent of recycled material production.
Data from the European Union shows that in 2021, only 11.4% of material input was recycled materials, up from 8.3% in 2004. Data from other regions is lacking, and therefore we don’t have a global picture of the share of recycled material used.
Currently, there are no agreed-upon targets for the share of recycled material use, given that renewable materials and reused components are also viable and sometimes better methods to close the loop.