The circularity rate of materials used in the European Union increased in 2020 by 0.8 percentage points, to 12.8%, but Romania is on the last place among the Member States, with a circularity rate of materials used of only 1.3%, the same as in 2019, show the data published on Thursday by Eurostat.

In comparison, in the Netherlands, the circularity rate of the materials used was 31%, which means that 31% of the material resources used in this country came from recycled material waste, according to Agerpres.

Eurostat states that the differences between Member States in the circularity of the materials used depend not only on the amount of materials recycled in each country, but also on the structural factors in national economies. The circularity rate is high if the amount of recycled waste is also high. However, the circularity rate can be high even if the domestic consumption of materials is low – meaning the materials that a country consumes (biomass, metals, minerals, fossil fuels). This happens when the extractions of materials in a country are at a low level, the imports of materials are reduced or the exports of extracted materials internally are high.

The circularity rate is lower than other indicators, such as the recycling rate, which is around 55% in the EU. This is because some types of materials cannot be recycled, for example fossil fuels that are burned to produce energy or biomass consumed as fodder.

Depending on the type of material, the circularity rate in the EU differs significantly, being 25% for metals, 16% for non-metallic minerals (including glass), 10% for biomass (including paper, wood, fabrics) and of 3% fossil fuels.