The circularity rate of the world economy is accumulating significant setbacks year after year, while the global extraction of natural resources is increasing, according to the data collected in the report ‘The Circularity Gap Report 2023’, by Circle Economy. This rate, which stood at 9.1% in 2018 fell to 8.6% in 2020 and now stands at 7.2%.
The study concludes that “the adoption of a circular economy could reduce the global need for material extraction by approximately one third. This reduction is based on the elimination of fossil fuels – especially coal – and the demand for high-volume minerals such as sand and gravel”.
The report proposes 16 ‘circular solutions’, “aimed at both decreasing the extraction of virgin materials (using less) and using the materials we have better and for longer, as well as switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy and from toxic to regenerative materials. They also encourage the use of secondary materials (reuse), among others”.