The success of the circular economy largely depends on our individual commitment, yet personal effort is often stymied by systemic hurdles. For instance, the textiles we wear every day prove far more difficult to recycle than plastics, a challenge that drew a high turnout of brand representatives to the recent Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels. Despite this corporate interest, European consumers and industries still throw away nearly eight million tonnes of fabric annually; consequently, even with the introduction of separate collections in 2025, only a quarter of this waste is currently recycled.
A similarly problematic trend exists in our wider daily lives, where 40% of plastics are used for packaging. Once binned, these materials embark on an uncertain journey, ultimately making up more than half of marine litter and a third of urban solid waste. This persistent pollution highlights the fact that packaging reuse remains lacklustre while current recycling processes remain notably inefficient.
The reality is that Europe has its work cut out, as the circular use rate for materials has stalled below 12%. In fact, in some countries, over 60% of household waste still ends up in landfill. To manage this burden, the EU generates over 2,000 million tonnes of waste every year—nearly half of which was being shipped to Turkey at the start of the decade just to clear the books.
Furthermore, all signs suggest this deluge of rubbish will only grow. By 2030, electronic waste is projected to jump to seven million tonnes, while textiles are expected to reach 9 million tonnes, fuelled by fast fashion. Hazardous waste is also set to climb to 143 million tonnes, and even the flow of scrap metal—driven by the demand for green steel—is forecast to rise to 125 million tonnes.
Every year, the global population consumes over 100,000 million tonnes of raw materials, more than 90% of which goes to waste.
Organisations such as the European Industrial Production Information Exchange (EIPIE) describe this as “systemic overconsumption,” yet they choose to look on the bright side: this problem is a direct measure of the circular economy’s massive strategic potential. Indeed, the business case is staggering, as the global population consumes over 100,000 million tonnes of raw materials annually, yet 90% of that volume is currently wasted.
In this regard, the circular economy faces a psychological hurdle similar to the fight against climate change. “There are many dry aspects to the energy transition; it feels distant, like being forced to do something you aren’t excited about,” says David Stainforth, a researcher at the London School of Economics and one of the world’s leading experts on sustainability. “The big question is how to persuade the public to get on board,” he adds, noting that people often resist changes that feel like an external obligation.
While traditional management like landfilling remains valid, it is no longer enough. We are now seeing a paradox where rising recycling rates actually cause a spike in secondary waste, such as incineration ash; in fact, waste from water and refuse management has recently surged by 176%.
To counter this, emerging industrial technologies are leaning heavily on automation and artificial intelligence. AI-driven robotic sorting, led by firms like Waste Robotics, is becoming vital for its ability to pick out materials from complex streams. Conceptually, the trend is moving towards integrated strategies built on a three-way partnership between waste producers, tech innovators, and policymakers.
A wave of innovation is ready to scale. Chemical recycling for mixed plastics, enzymatic depolymerisation of textile blends, deep leaching with eutectic solvents for precious metals, AI-powered robotics for dismantling electronic components, and biorefineries for organic by-products are all progressing from pilot lines to demonstration plants—frequently backed by the EU Innovation Fund and national grant programmes.
A practical example of this shift can be found in Tahivilla, Tarifa (Cádiz), home to one of Spain’s oldest wind farms. Operated by ACCIONA Energía, the site was recently upgraded to boost efficiency, sparking a search for a “second life” for its retired components. Through the #TurbineMade project, one of the site’s blades has even been reincarnated as a limited-edition line of trainers.
To achieve this, a painstaking dismantling process was required where every part was separated and classified based on its potential for reuse. The blades—made of balsa wood, fibreglass, and resins—were shredded, and the resulting dust became the raw material for the trainers’ soles. Steel and concrete, the predominant materials, followed equally circular paths: the metal was melted down for new products, while the concrete was crushed for reuse as recycled aggregate in other construction projects.
These surprising new roles for waste suggest that, in a circular economy, materials can enjoy an infinite lifecycle. For instance, discarded blades from another of the company’s wind farms have been repurposed into a torque tube for solar panels at the Extremadura I-II-III plant. In Australia, ACCIONA turbine blades have even been transformed into ten prototype surfboards and fins.
At E-Waste World in Frankfurt, the conversation shifted from regulatory compliance to the pursuit of competitive advantages. The message was clear: as raw materials become a geopolitical flashpoint, sustainable recycling routes are essential for a resilient supply chain. Without them, there will be no green growth model, industrial or otherwise.
Sustainable recycling routes are essential for the resilience of the entire supply chain. Without them, there will be no green growth model, industrial or otherwise.
Regional governments are leading the charge across Europe. The Basque Country’s 2030 Circular Economy Strategy in Spain aims for a 30% jump in material productivity and a 30% reduction in waste generation by 2030; Oulu in Finland promises carbon neutrality by 2035; and the 2020 Circular Economy Roadmap for Glasgow, United Kingdom, focuses on “localising” the economy to ensure growth is built on social inclusion, justice, and community wellbeing.
After turning the economic model on its head with the 2020 European Green Deal, the Commission rocked the market again with the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), which aims for global circular leadership by 2030. The centrepiece is the Circular Economy Act (CEA), set for this year, 2026, and currently under consultation.
Ultimately, Brussels is determined to swap the linear production model for a circular one. This involves doubling the circular material use rate (CMUR) by 2030 and creating a single market for secondary raw materials to end the over-reliance on third-country suppliers. The business case is strong: the European remanufacturing market could grow from €31 billion to €100 billion by 2030, generating 500,000 new jobs.
The CID proposes activating a continent-wide central purchasing hub for materials and assigning Digital Product Passports to a range of goods to facilitate their repair and recycling while tracking hazardous substances across the supply chain.
Europe is also banking on the fact that design dictates up to 80% of a product’s environmental impact. Therefore, at the point of conception, designers must consider the possibility of dismantling, processing, repair (a key issue), and component reuse. Interestingly, “prevention” sits at the very top of the EU waste hierarchy, above reduction, reuse, and recycling—it is a touch ironic, however, that the latter tiers still receive most of the political attention.
As usual, regulation does not always aid innovation. The European Parliament approved the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which promotes waste-to-energy (WTE). However, under the EU’s own hierarchy, material recovery prevails and handles 34.7% of waste—ahead of energy conversion (12.8%), but still trailing behind landfill and disposal, which handles 52.5% of the total.
We must adopt a holistic vision in which all supply chain actors participate and where innovators have a place.
The defining feature of the circular economy today is the sheer amount of untapped potential. To seize it, we need an integrated vision involving everyone from suppliers to tech innovators. Every 1% increase in GDP currently leads to a 0.778% rise in waste; squaring that circle is the ultimate challenge for sustainable growth, and there is a massive market at stake.
“I have met many scientists, climatologists, and environmentalists who feel as if they are suffering from Cassandra Syndrome. They have seen the future, they understand what the problem is, and yet nobody listens to them,” explains David Stainforth. “But my response to this is that they are not telling the story in a way that people actually want to hear. They speak about science and assume that the public is interested. Scientists and academics have a responsibility to work alongside social scientists to tell the story to politicians and the public, rather than simply focusing on what interests them personally. That is one of the battles I am fighting at the moment.”
Sources:
- Agata Mesjasz-Lech, Trends of Industrial Waste Generation in Manufacturing Enterprises in the Context of Waste Prevention—Shift-Share Analysis for European Union Countries, Sustainability, 2025, doi.org/10.3390/su17010034
- https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/clean-industrial-deal_en
- https://recyclinginside.com/news/exploring-eu-waste-generation-trends-and-solutions/
- https://medium.com/@MatterwaveVentures/wasted-potential-e20283b97bc1
- https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_2013
- https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling_en
- https://cse-net.org/eu-road-to-a-circular-economy-by-2025-key-steps-and-challenges/
Eugenio Mallol is a journalist specializing in technological innovation. He created the INNOVADORES supplement in El Mundo and La Razón, which he directed for 11 years. He is currently Director of Strategy and Communications at Atlas Tecnológico, as well as analyst and coordinator of the Science and Society Chair at the Rafael del Pino Foundation. He is a columnist for Forbes Spain and contributes to digital outlets such as InnovaSpain and Valencia Plaza. He is also the author of books and reports on technological innovation and a frequent speaker.