customer wants to know what proportion of our raw materials is recycled, how do I determine that

Material circularity is separate from scope 3, but overlaps with it

This question asks for the share of recycled or renewable raw materials in the total material input stream for the year. VSME treats this in the environmental module as a separate indicator alongside waste and water: it is about mass, not value or number of units. The standard calculation is: weight of recycled/renewable material divided by total weight of purchased material, per year, per location or consolidated for the entire company — choose one level and stick with it.

The tricky part is the source data. Raw material data usually sit with procurement or production, not with the department filling in the questionnaire, and suppliers do not always state the recycling percentage on the invoice or certificate. Without underlying data — a supplier declaration, a material certificate (for example for recycled steel or plastic) or an in-house measurement — there is no figure to enter, and then 'to be determined' is the correct answer instead of an estimate. This subject is substantively close to the question how much waste the company produces per year, because both questions ask for mass balances of material flows; it is efficient to set them up in one go with the same sources.

Where this part of VSME comes from

The indicator appears in the environmental module of the VSME standard of EFRAG, as part of the broader material and waste reporting alongside the indicators that also appear in the question on separate waste collection come back. VSME itself does not require verification by a third party; it is up to the customer issuing the questionnaire to determine how much substantiation they need. Note: this is not a GHG Protocol indicator — that is about emissions in scope 1, 2 and 3, not material flows — so do not confuse the two frameworks if your customer combines them in the same list.