Reconomy launches ‘Close the Gap’ campaign to highlight urgent need for greater circularity

• The global economy is almost entirely reliant on extracting new virgin materials to satisfy

consumption demands with too little focus on recycling, reuse and conserving resources

• Just 7.2% of resources make their way back into the economy, leaving a circularity gap of

92.8% which is placing unsustainable pressure on the earth’s ecosystems

• Amid challenging market conditions, campaign aims to help businesses close the growing

circularity gap to reduce emissions and costs and decouple growth from resource use

Reconomy, the leading international circular economy specialist, has today launched a ‘Close the

Gap’ campaign to highlight the urgent need to transition away from linear economic models and

embrace more circular solutions.

Despite a growing focus in recent years on sustainability, the global economy remains

overwhelmingly dependent on the extraction of virgin materials to satisfy demands for

consumption. Since 1970, global material extraction has tripled, now reaching over 100 billion tonnes

per year.1 As global material use has reached new heights, the Circularity Metric has declined from

9.1% to 7.2% within only six years and just 7.2% of materials make their way back into the economy.

2

This leaves a circularity gap of 92.8% which is placing unsustainable pressure on the earth’s

ecosystems. Additionally, the extraction and processing of materials are responsible for

approximately half of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and over 90% of biodiversity loss and

water stress3

.

Reconomy’s campaign seeks to address this by making the circular economy more accessible for

businesses and help them decouple growth from resource use. It aims to show that by keeping

their materials in use for longer and making small operational or design changes, this can

significantly reduce consumption. This will not only lower their carbon footprint, but also unlock

material cost savings, improve efficiency, boost profitability and cash flows.

Running over the coming weeks, the campaign will include:

• Educational content and sector showcases for businesses across key sectors

• A spotlight on Reconomy customer success stories demonstrating real-world impact

• A launch video - https://youtu.be/jY4Xx4NDcVw and campaign page -

https://www.reconomy.com/close-the-gap/

Diane Crowe, Head of Sustainability at Reconomy, commented: “We are pleased to launch this

campaign to shine a light on one of the biggest challenges of our time. Society is consuming

Reconomy UK Ltd. Kelsall House, Stafford Court, Stafford Park 1, Telford, Shropshire TF3 3BD

01952 292 000 enquiries@reconomy.com reconomy.com

Registered Office as above. Registered in England No. 2951661. VAT Registration No. 790 9484 79.resources faster than the world can regenerate them and the exponential growth in material

extraction is driving unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Through this campaign, we want to show that embracing the circular economy is easier than many

businesses realise. By better managing resources, businesses can lower their environmental impact

while boosting profits, cash flows and long-term resilience. This is all the more critical in light of the

current volatile global economic backdrop, where businesses are under growing pressure to cut

costs and operate more efficiently.”

-Ends-

Notes:

1 and 2 – International Resource Panel (IRP). (2019). Global resources outlook 2019: natural resources

for the future we want (Link)

3 – Circle Economy. (2023). The circularity gap report 2023 (Link)

Contact for Reconomy:

Temple Bar Advisory

Alex Child-Villiers // Sam Livingstone // Alistair de Kare-Silver // Juliette Packard

Tel: 020 7183 1190

Email: reconomy@templebaradvisory.com

About Reconomy

Reconomy is an international circular economy specialist that combines technology, skills and

incredible people to unlock commercial opportunities for businesses by helping them optimise their

resources, embed efficiencies, prevent waste and circulate materials back into use.

Reconomy’s capabilities are organised into three divisions known as ‘Loops’ - Recycle, Comply, and

Re-use. Recycle loop is focused on waste and resource management. Comply loop helps businesses

meet complex regulatory challenges and Re-use loop delivers end-to-end, omnichannel returns

management and logistics solutions.

Reconomy operates across more than 150 countries, with more than 4,000 colleagues servicing a

diverse range of international customers, including some of the world's largest brands across multiple

sectors.