Reconomy releases 2024 sustainability report

Reconomy, a London-based international circular economy specialist, has published its 2024 Annual Sustainability Report. According to the report, the company made strong progress on its climate and sustainability goals, refreshed sustainability strategy and strengthened reporting, and achieved a record number of sustainability awards and accreditations.

As part of the report, and to provide a clearer picture of the company’s impact and to see how it can drive greater circularity progress, Reconomy measured the overall circularity of its business operations. In 2024, the company says it physically managed 2.3 million tons of materials for its customers, including returns, and virtually managed a further 4.2 million tons of materials such as packaging and batteries, with 45 percent going to closed-loop recycling.

This figure represents a circularity gap of 55 percent, calculated using Reconomy’s own methodology based on the global circularity gap of 93.1 percent. The company says it is actively working to reduce the gap through improved processes, innovative service models and a dedicated Close the Gap campaign focused on collaborating with customers and partners across the value chain.

“We are pleased to present this report to our stakeholders that demonstrates strong progress against our sustainability commitments and towards tackling one of the greatest structural and environmental challenges of our time,” says Guy Wakeley, group chief executive. “The global economy is overly reliant on the extraction of virgin materials to satisfy consumption demands, with only 6.9 percent of resources making their way back into the economy, leaving a circularity gap of 93.1 percent. The exponential growth in material extraction is driving unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions. At Reconomy, we’re determined to decouple growth from resource use and reduce emissions by helping businesses close the circularity gap and keep resources in use for longer.

“We look forward to building on our progress and to continue working closely with our customers and all our stakeholders to advance circularity.”

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Reconomy also tracked its contribution to shifting the point at which global resource consumption exceeds the Earth’s ability to regenerate those resources, also referred to as Earth Overshoot Day. In 2024, the company measured and estimated that its 2024 activities shifted the Earth Overshoot Day by 12 minutes.

Key environmental and sustainability achievements in 2024, according to the report, included:

• 13.9 percent absolute (market-based) decrease in Scope 1 and 2 combined emissions from 2023, an absolute decrease of 6.3 percent from 2021 baseline
• 65.7 percent reduction (market-based/gross profit) in Scope 1, 2 and 3 intensity from baseline
• 95.6 percent of global electricity use from renewable sources
• 98.5 percent of all waste managed diverted from landfill
• 36.2 percent increase in electric vehicles (EVs) in the Reconomy fleet from 2023 to 2024

“Over the past year, we continued to embed circularity and sustainability across our own business and as we strive to walk the walk,” says Diane Crowe, group sustainability director. “Having refreshed our sustainability strategy, strengthened our reporting and completed a double materiality assessment, we remain focused on making a material impact on the areas that are most important to our stakeholders and to leading the way towards a more circular and sustainable economy.”