Portugal has second lowest circular material use rate in EU

  • Lusa
  • 25 November 2021

According to Eurostat, The EU circularity rate increased to 12.8% in 2020, with Portugal having the second-lowest (2%) share of material resources coming from recycled waste.

The European Union (EU) circularity rate increased to 12.8% in 2020, compared to 2019, with Portugal having the second-lowest (2%) share of material resources coming from recycled waste, Eurostat reported on Thursday.

According to data released this Thursday by the EU’s statistical office, the rate of use of recycled material (circularity rate) advanced, in 2020, by 0.8 percentage points to 12.8%, having maintained an upward trend since 2004 (8.3%), the first year for which data is available.

Among the member states, the Netherlands had the highest circularity rate (31%), followed by Belgium (23%) and France (22%), while the lowest were observed in Romania (1%), Portugal and Ireland (2% both).

Eurostat points out that the differences in the use of recycled waste between the Member States are due not only to the amount of recycling in each country but also to structural factors in local economies.