World News for Students of English

27-11-2025 07:00

Progress on raw material recycling across the EU has been stalling, increasing by only one percentage point, from 11.2% to 12.2% over the past decade (2015-2024).

This slow growth makes the EU’s 2030 Circular Economy target of 23.2% seem out of reach. This is because the use of primary materials tends to outpace the growth in secondary materials, limiting the circularity rate’s increase despite more total tonnage being recycled.

The Netherlands is the top performer, avoiding the extraction of new materials with a rate of nearly 33%, followed by Belgium (22.7%) and Italy (almost 22%). Conversely, Romania has the lowest rate at 1.3%. Six countries, including Poland (-4.2%) and Finland (-3.2%), experienced a decline in their recycling rates. EU authorities stress that circularity is crucial for industry transformation and reducing the EU’s dependency on critical raw material imports, particularly from China. One barrier to faster progress is the lack of legislation targeting large waste streams, such as mining waste, compared to existing laws for specific waste like packaging.

Difficult words: stall (to stop or slow down progress), outpace (to go faster than), circularity (keeping materials and products in use for as long as possible by reusing, repairing, or recycling them).

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