The world is using more than 100 billion tonnes of natural resources per year for the first time ever, while global recycling levels have fallen.

A report found raw resources use had risen to 100.6 billion for the first time in 2017, the last year data is available, an eight per cent rise on the 93 billion tonnes used in 2020.

The share of minerals, fossil fuels, metals and biomass reused also dipped from an already paltry 9.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent, the Circularity Gap Report 2020 found.