Today, the global economy is only 8.6% circular — just two years ago it was 9.1%.The global circularity gap is widening. There are reasons for this negative trend, but the result remains the same: the news is not just bad, it is worse. The negative trend overall can be explained by three related, underlying trends: high rates of extraction; ongoing stock build-up; plus, low levels of end-of-use processing and cycling. These trends are embedded deep within the ‘take-make-waste’ tradition of the linear economy — the problems are hardwired. As such, the outlook to close the circularity gap looks bleak under the dead hand of business as usual. The circular economy assumes dynamic systems, meaning there is no specific end-point, but it is rather a process of transformation.