A Critical Analysis of Ireland’s Circular Material Use Rate (CMUR)

Funder: Environmental Protection Agency

Duration of Project: February 2023 – January 2024 (12 Months)

Partners: Rediscovery Centre, Clean Technology Centre, Circle Economy

Status: Complete

About:

Ireland’s Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2022-23 includes five key objectives, one of which is to significantly improve Ireland’s performance in an EU circularity metric known as Circular Material Use Rate (CMUR) in comparison with other EU Member States. CMUR measures the ratio between recycled materials and overall material use. A higher CMUR score, therefore, indicates greater use of recycled materials, which in turn reduces the need to extract raw materials and the related environmental impacts.

Objectives of Project:

This research project set out to build an understanding of why Ireland’s CMUR is so low and identify pathways for improvement by:

• Reviewing data and data collection practices from Ireland and three other EU Member States;
• Conducting a critical comparative evaluation of data and data collection practices;
• Identifying pathways for action through which Ireland can improve.

Through these steps the research identified a number of key factors driving Ireland’s low CMUR score, and developed policy recommendations for improving the situation.

Background:

Although primarily focused on recycling, the CMUR metric is currently used to compare the circularity of EU economies. Between 2010 – 2022 EU Member States have recorded large discrepancies in their CMUR scores. For example, while Ireland’s CMUR score has been measured at between 1.6 – 2.1%, the EU average has remained at around 12%, while the Netherlands recorded 30.9% in 2020.

Ireland’s consistently low CMUR score is concerning in terms of achieving national and EU policy objectives, and in developing new opportunities in the emerging circular economy. However, the data and data collection practices underpinning CMUR scores have received little scrutiny to date.