The ‘Basque Country’s Circular Economy Indicators 2026’ report reveals sound progress in all areas of circularity, from material efficiency to waste material recovery. According to the document prepared by Ihobe, the environmental management agency attached to the Basque Government’s Ministry of Industry, the Energy Transition and Sustainability, the Basque Country continues to advance in the transition towards a more resource-efficient economy, generating less waste and making better use of materials. 

The report updates the monitoring dashboard of the rolling out of the circular economy in the Basque Country. The dashboard started in 2018 and was updated in 2021 to assess the territory’s progress with respect to the targets set by the European Union and the Basque Circular Economy Strategy 2030.

The document provides a comprehensive overview of the life cycle of materials, products and services in the Basque economy. That allows the evolution of the main circularity indicators to be analysed, the results to be compared with Europe, and priority action areas to be identified to continue advancing towards a resource efficient and low carbon economy.

The monitoring dashboard reflects the performance of the recycling rates and the efficient use of materials; it identifies challenges in raw material self-sufficiency and the generation of municipal solid waste 

Among the most important results, the report points out that the recycling rate of all waste, excluding the main mineral waste, stood at 62.7% in 2022, which was up ten percentage points on 2018 and places the Basque Country over the values recorded in the European Union. Furthermore, the container and packaging recycling rate was 89.6%, which consolidated the upward trend in recent years. 

Resource-efficient use

As regards the efficient use of resources, the Basque Country posted better material productivity, which stood at €3.88 per kilogram in 2022, together with a drop in domestic material consumption compared to 2018. This was accompanied by a long-term downward trend in waste generation per GDP unit, which reflects a progressive decoupling of economic growth and environmental pressure.

Green public procurement – a key instrument for the public administrations to drive the circular economy – is another of the areas with a solid performance. In 2022, there were 2,281 calls to tender with environmental criteria, 145% up on 2018, with an economic volume of over a billion euros; this has bolstered the driving role of the public sector for sustainability criteria to be incorporated in procurement, thanks to the Basque Government’s Green Public Procurement Programme of the Basque Country 2030.

Along with this progress, the report pinpoints structural challenges that condition the circular transition. The material flow analysis shows that 55.4 million tonnes of materials were processed in the Basque Country in 2022; 67% (37.2 million tonnes) of which came from imports, which is proof of a high external dependency. Fourteen and a half million out of the 55.4 million tonnes of processed materials were for energy use (26%) and 26.8 million tonnes were exported (48%).

The document prepared by Ihobe allows the progress to be measured towards the Basque Circular Economy Strategy 2030 in line with the European framework

As regards waste, even though 83% of the waste generated was reintroduced into the economy by means of recycling, reuse, compositing or other recovery operations, the recycling rate of municipal waste remained at 37%, still falling short of the European targets established for the coming years. Similarly, challenges still persist that are linked to certain specific waste flows and to self-sufficiency in raw materials. 

As regards food waste, the report points out that it stood at 174 kg per person. This amount remains close to the average of 178 kg per capita between 2014 and 2022; it was up 0.9% on the 2014 figure and down 6.5% on 2018. 

During the period 2000-2022, the Basque Country’s recycling-reuse rate of municipal solid waste rose from 22% to 37% of the total processed (the latter is equivalent to 195.5 kg per capita), where recycling was consolidated as the main treatment. However, significant differences were not seen from the 2018 figures, where the rate already stood at 37%. 

Goal of the report: to assess the pathway towards a more circular economy

The Circular Economy Indicators report allows the progress towards a more circular economy in the Basque Country to be assessed, based on a set of indicators that record the main elements of the circular economy and which make it easier to assess the effectiveness of the action, to identify best practices and to detect the possible need for new measures. Furthermore, the monitoring framework provides a comparison with the Member States of the European Union, regular updates and time series, which makes it more useful to analyse the performance of the Basque economy. 

The transition towards a sustainable economy – where the value of products, materials and resources are kept for the longest time possible and waste generation is reduced to the minimum – is an essential contribution to the development of a competitive economy that is circular, low carbon and resource efficient; as well as being an opportunity to transform the economy, create jobs and generate sustainable competitive advantages, in keeping with the targets of the Clean Industrial Deal.