1. Introduction

To achieve a circular economy, the use of virgin materials as well as the landfilling and incinerating of waste need to be minimised. Instead, waste streams are turned into so-called secondary materials that are then used as inputs for manufacturing processes. However, the data currently used to determine the use of secondary raw materials in the Dutch economy comes from the Material Flow Monitor (MFM)¹⁾ and is largely based on expert guesses. Yet, the monitoring of the use of secondary materials is crucial in a circular economy that aims to minimise the use of primary raw materials. Building on the CBS study on this topic from 2019, this report evaluates potential new data sources that could enable better monitoring of the use of secondary materials in the future. In this report the findings of the project “Use of secondary materials 2021” are presented.

The emphasis of the research in 2021 is on the use of secondary material in the Netherlands. This research explores potentially new data sources for this topic. To this end, the data of the CBS Transport Statistics is explored and CBS company surveys are examined. Through interviews with the relevant CBS departments and value chain experts the possibilities to gather information on the use of secondary materials in various industries was explored further.

This report is structured as follows. The research findings are presented in chapter 3. The research was conducted in two phases; an exploratory phase during which the potential to obtain information about the use of secondary materials using the CBS transport statistics (section 3.1) and CBS company surveys (section 3.1) was analysed. This was followed by a deeper analysis of the CBS Production Statistics survey (section 3.3) and interviews with industry associations to determine what information companies could report and which external data sources might be available (section 3.4). Finally, overall conclusions are drawn and recommendations made in chapter 4.

1.1 Scope and definitions

Here a brief overview of the definitions applied in this report and the scope of the research:

• Secondary materials: Waste, processed waste and by-products (that used to be considered waste).
• Use of secondary materials: Waste, processed waste and by-products that are obtained from outside the organisation and are used as input for new goods and not as a source of energy.
• The scope: Firms manufacturing goods in the Netherlands.
• Out of scope: Recycled content of imported materials and products, the quality of secondary materials and the value of their application, reuse of waste/by-products within an organisation.