Secondhand September: What the World’s Most Circular Countries Can Teach Us About Buying Better

As Secondhand September approaches, the conversation around sustainable fashion is once again turning our attention to one deceptively simple question: what if we stopped treating everything as disposable?

Secondhand September is built around a straightforward idea…choosing pre-loved before buying new can help reduce waste, extend the life of products and challenge the throwaway culture that has become synonymous with fast consumerism. But while the decision to buy secondhand can feel deeply personal, the bigger shift is cultural.

The most sustainable societies don’t simply ask individuals to make better choices. They build habits, infrastructure and systems that make keeping things in use easier in the first place.

New research published in July 2026 by custom packaging company Arka offers an intriguing snapshot of what that can look like. Its study of 75 countries ranked nations according to four measures of circularity: how efficiently they use raw materials to generate economic output, how much municipal waste they recycle, how much used clothing they export or absorb, and how much electronic waste they generate.

The result is a list that puts reuse, recycling and resource efficiency firmly at the centre of the sustainability conversation. At the top of the ranking is Singapore, with a Circularity Performance Score of 100. The city-state recycles 52% of its municipal waste, more than any other country in the study, while using just 0.39kg of raw materials for every US dollar of GDP. Singapore does still generate significant quantities of e-waste, at 20.3kg per person each year, highlighting an important reality: even the strongest circular economies have areas where progress is still needed.

What is particularly interesting about Singapore’s performance, however, is the role of policy in shaping everyday behaviour. Recycling in commercial buildings became mandatory in the 1990s, while decades of consistent investment and public participation have helped turn waste management into part of the country’s infrastructure rather than an occasional act of environmental goodwill.

If sustainable living is only possible for people with the time, money or knowledge to seek out the most ethical option, it will remain a niche behaviour. The real opportunity lies in creating environments where reuse, repair, recycling and secondhand purchasing become the norm.

Austria follows Singapore closely, with a score of 98.78. More than half of its municipal waste is recycled, while the country is also a significant exporter of used clothing. Slovenia ranks third, recycling 46.09% of its municipal waste and generating just 17kg of e-waste per person. These figures tell us something important about the circular economy: there isn’t one single route to sustainability.

Recycling is one part of the picture. So is keeping clothes in circulation. So is using fewer raw materials in the first place. And so is preventing unwanted electronics from becoming waste. The strongest-performing countries are doing several of these things simultaneously.

That is precisely why Secondhand September matters. Buying a pre-loved coat, dress or pair of jeans may seem like a small decision, but collectively those decisions contribute to a different relationship with the products we own, one based on longevity rather than constant replacement.

Germany, which ranks fourth, provides perhaps the clearest example of how reuse can operate at enormous scale. The country exports more than 450 million kilograms of used clothing each year, helping keep textiles in circulation rather than sending them directly towards disposal. It also recycles almost 47% of its municipal waste. Germany’s progress is not accidental. Its waste management system underwent a major overhaul in the 1990s, with the resulting infrastructure and habits developing over decades.

There is a lesson here for fashion. We often talk about sustainable shopping as though it begins and ends with the consumer standing in front of a rail of clothes. But what happens afterwards matters just as much. Can unwanted clothes be resold? Donated? Repaired? Passed to someone else? Collected and sorted effectively? Exported responsibly? Recycled when they genuinely reach the end of their useful life?

Latvia‘s position at number five is particularly interesting from a secondhand perspective. The country recycles 36.09% of its municipal waste and produces only 11.9kg of e-waste per person, among the lowest figures in the top 10. But its clothing figures stand out too: Latvia is a net importer of used clothing, with -2.25kg of used clothing net exports per person. Used textiles are coming into the country as well as circulating out of it.

This flips the usual narrative around sustainable fashion. Secondhand isn’t simply about what happens to our unwanted clothes. It is also about what happens when consumers choose pre-owned products in the first place. Every secondhand purchase has the potential to replace a new purchase. And every time a garment changes hands rather than being discarded, its useful life is extended. That is the principle at the heart of Secondhand September.

The rankings continue with Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and the Republic of Korea. The Netherlands stands out for its exceptionally efficient material use, requiring just 0.13kg of raw materials per US dollar of GDP. The Republic of Korea combines a 38.43% municipal recycling rate with relatively low e-waste generation compared with several other wealthy economies.

The data reveals an interesting tension between wealth, consumption and waste. Several of the highest-ranking countries still generate around 17–22kg of e-waste per person each year. Recycling alone cannot solve the problem if products continue to be manufactured, purchased and discarded at ever-increasing rates. That is why the idea of keeping products in use for longer is so important.

The global picture makes one thing clear: sustainability isn’t simply about recycling more. It is about changing our relationship with what we already have. 

A circular approach asks different questions:

Do we need something new?

Could we buy it secondhand?

Could we repair what we already own?

Could somebody else use what we’re finished with?

Can a product be kept in circulation rather than becoming waste?

These questions extend far beyond clothing. They apply to furniture, electronics, books, children’s products, homewares and almost everything else we consume.

According to the UN’s Global Waste Management Outlook, only around 19% of municipal solid waste is recycled globally. Against that backdrop, the countries at the top of Arka’s ranking demonstrate what can happen when recycling and reuse are supported by infrastructure, policy and public participation, and they also demonstrate that these changes don’t happen overnight. Germany’s waste-management transformation has been developing for more than three decades. Singapore’s recycling policies have similarly had decades to become embedded in everyday life.

The world’s leading circular economies show us that meaningful environmental change happens when individual choices and wider systems reinforce one another. Governments can create infrastructure. Businesses can design for longevity. Communities can make repair and reuse accessible, and consumers can create demand for products that stay in circulation.

Thanks to www.arka.com for the research data.