Assessing the implementation of the circular economy in the EU countries

Nestor  Shpak; Olha Melnyk; Nataliya  Horbal; Mariana  Ruda; Włodzimierz  Sroka

doi:10.23762/FSO_VOL9_NO1_2

Published : 2021-03-31

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021)

Assessing the implementation of the circular economy in the EU countries

Nestor Shpak

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0620-2458

Olha Melnyk

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8819-1910

Nataliya Horbal

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1448-5603

Mariana Ruda

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4015-1976

Włodzimierz Sroka

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8701-0716

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL9_NO1_2

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is generally an economic system which aims to reduce waste and reuse resources. Predetermined by the need for new sources of sustainable development in the current conditions of global environmental issues and qualitative and quantitative limitations of resources, this promising concept has recently fuelled a broad international discussion. The circular economy is now an urgent global priority for policymakers as well, especially in the EU.Given these facts, the benefits and impact of a circular economy with an emphasis on waste and recycling management are being investigated on supranational and national levels (in the EU and its member nations, which are world leaders in terms of its adoption). Systematisation, comparative analysis, benchmarking and generalisation, economic and mathematical modelling (the formation of a model of recycling efficiency in the context of the CE in the EU based on the Eurostat data on the CE in the EU) and statistical methods were the research methods used in the study. It was proven that waste recycling rates have a significant impact on the EU recyclable raw materials trade. The proposed methodology of modelling the CE results can be used for other countries/companies. The research may help to promote effective reformation of global economics by propelling sustainable development.

Keywords:

circular economy, linear economy, sustainable development, waste recycling, reusing, recyclable material

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Shpak, N. ., Melnyk, O., Horbal, N. ., Ruda, M. ., & Sroka, W. . (2021). Assessing the implementation of the circular economy in the EU countries. Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 9(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.23762/FSO_VOL9_NO1_2

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

References

Abdel-Shafy, H.I., Mansour, M.S.M. (2018), Solid waste issue: Sources, composition, disposal, recycling, and valorization. Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, 27(4), 12751290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2018.07.003.

Androniceanu, A. (2019), Collaborative digital economy, main attributes, and challenges, in: M. Peters (Ed.), Encyclopedia of educational philosophy and theory, Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7.

Avdiushchenko, A., Zając, P. (2019), Circular economy indicators as a supporting tool for European regional development policies, Sustainability, 11, 3025. DOI:10.3390/su11113025.

Avraamidou, S., Baratsas, S.G., Tian, Y., Pistikopoulos, E.N. (2020), Circular economy – a challenge and an opportunity for process systems engineering, Computers & Chemical Engineering, 133, 106629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2019.106629.

Banaitë, D. (2016), Towards circular economy: Analysis of indicators in the context of sustainable development, Social Transformations in Contemporary Society, 4, 142-150.

Becerra-Alonso, D., Androniceanu, A., Georgescu, I. (2016), Sensitivity and vulnerability of European countries in time of crisis based on a new approach to data clustering and curvilinear analysis, Administratie si Management Public, (27), 46-61.

Bocken, N.M., Olivetti, E.A., Cullen, J. M., Potting, J., Lifset, R. (2017), Taking the circularity to the next level: A special issue on the circular economy, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 21, 476-482. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12606.

Bocken, N.M.P., de Pauw, I., Bakker, C., van der Grinten, B. (2016), Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy, Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 33, 308-320. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681015.2016.1172124.

Chovancová, J., Tej, J. (2020), Decoupling economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions: the case of the energy sector in V4 countries, Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, 15(2), 235-251. DOI: 10.24136/eq.2020.011

Circular economy (2020), European Commission, retrieved from: https:// ec.europa.eu/growth/ industry/sustainability/circular-economy_en. (accessed 7 February 2020)

Circular economy update (2019), Overview of circular economy in Europe 2019. Final report. Ecopreneur.eu, retrieved from: https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/sites/default/files/ecopreneur-circular-economy-update-report-2019.pdf. (accessed 2 February 2020)

Czikkely, M., Oláh, J., Lakner, Z., Fogarassy, C., Popp, J. (2018), Waste water treatment with adsorptions by mushroom compost: The circular economic valuation concept for material cycles, International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 10, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1847979018809863.

Czikkely, M., Hoang, N.H., Fogarassy, C. (2019), Circular transformation of current business solutions in wastewater management, Polish Journal of Management Studies, 20(2), 196-209. DOI:10.17512/pjms.2019.20.2.17

Commoner, B. (1971), The closing circle: Nature, man, and technology, New York: Random House.

Dan, H. (2019), Culturally green – an investigation into the cultural determinants of environmental performance, Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 7(2), 107-126. DOI:10.23762/FSO_VOL7_NO2_7.

De Jesus, A., Antunes, P., Santos, R., Mendonça, S. (2017), Eco-innovation in the transition to a circular economy: An analytical literature review, Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 2999-3018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.111

Di Maio, F., Rem, P.C. (2015), A robust indicatorfor promoting circular economy through recycling, Journal of Environmental Protection, 6, 1095-1104. DOI:10.4236/jep.2015.610096.

Elia, V., Gnoni, G.M., Tornese, F. (2017), Measuring circular economy strategies through index methods: A critical analysis, Journal of Cleaner Production, 142(4), 2741-2751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.196.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) (2013), Towards the circular economy. 1. Isle of Wight. Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) (2020), What is the circular economy? Retrieved from: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/what-isthe-circular-economy (accessed 1 February 2020)

Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) (2015), Circularity indicators – an approach to measure circularity, Methodology & Project Overview, Cowes, UK.

European Commission (2020), Eurostat. Circular Economy, retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/circular-economy/indicators/main-tables (accessed 8 February 2020)

European Commission (2015a), Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the circular economy. The Circular Economy Package Proposal, Brussels, Belgium.

European Commission (2015b), Circular economy action plan. For a cleaner and more competitive Europe, retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/new_circular_economy_action_plan.pdf. (accessed 31 March 2020)

Filimonova, I., Komarova, A., Mishenin, M. (2020), Impact of the global green factor on the capitalization of oil companies inRussia, Oeconomia Copernicana, 11(2), 309-324. DOI: 10.24136/oc.2020.013

Garcés-Ayerbe, C., Rivera-Torres, P., Suárez-Perales, I., Dante, I., Leyva-de la Hiz, D.I. (2019), Is it possible to change from a linear to a circular economy? An overview of opportunities and barriers for European small and medium-sized enterprise companies, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16, 851. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16050851.

Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N.M.P., Hultink, E.J. (2017), The circular economy – a new sustainability paradigm? Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 757-768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048.

George, D., Lin, B., Chen, Y. (2015), A circular economy model of economicgrowth. Environmental Modelling and Software, 73, 60-63. DOI:10.1016/j.envsoft.2015.06.014.

Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., Ulgiati, S. (2016), A review on circular economy: The expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems, Journal of Cleaner Production 114, 11-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.007.

Giurco, D., Littleboy, A., Boyle, T., Fyfe, J., White, S. (2014), Circular economy: questions for responsible minerals, additive manufacturing and recycling of metals, Resources, 3, 432-453. DOI:10.3390/resources3020432

Government of the Netherlands (2017), From a linear to a circular economy, retrieved from: https://www.government.nl/topics/circular-economy (accessed 1 February 2020)

Graedel, T.E., Allenby, B.R. (1995), Industrial ecology, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Hervey G. (2018), Ranking how EU countries do with the circular economy, Politico, retrieved from: https://www.politico.eu/article/ranking-how-eu-countries-dowith-the-circular-economy/. (accessed 1 February 2020)

Islam, S.M.N., Munasinghe, M., Clarke, M. (2003), Making long-term economic growth more sustainable: Evaluating the costs and benefits, Ecological Economics, 47(2-3), 149-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(03)00162-9.

Jaki, A., Siuta-Tokarska, B. (2019), New imperative of corporate value creation in face of the challenges of sustainable development, Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 7(2), 63-81. https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2019.070204

Janicke, M. (2012), “Green growth”: From a growing eco-industry to economic sustainability, Energy Policy, 48, 13-21. DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.04.045.

Kalmykova, Y., Sadagopan, M., Rosado, L. (2018), Circular economy – from review of theories and practices to development of implementation tools, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 135, 190-

-201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.10.034.

Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., Hekkert, M. (2017), Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 127, 221-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.09.005.

Kliestikova, J., Krizanova, A., Corejova, T., Kral, P., Spuchlakova, E. (2018), Subsidies to increase remote pollution? Science and Engineering Ethics, 24(2), 755-767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9908-0.

Lieder, M., Rashid, A. (2016), Towards circular economy implementation: A comprehensive review in context of manufacturing industry, Journal of Cleaner Production, 115, 36-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.042.

Luttenberger, L.R. (2020), Waste management challenges in transition to circular economy – case of Croatia, Journal of Cleaner Production, 256, 120495. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120495.

Maciejewski, M., Głodowska, A. (2020), Economic development versus growing importance of the financial sector: Global insight, International Entrepreneurship Review, 6(3), 77-90. https://doi.org/10.15678/IER.2020.0603.0

McDonald, Ch. How many Earths do we need? BBC, retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33133712. (accessed 30 March 2020)

Mesagan, E.P., Chidi, O.N. (2020), Energy consumption, capital investment and environmental degradation: The African experience, Forum Scientiae Oeconomia, 8(1), 5-16. DOI: 10.23762/FSO_VOL8_NO1_1

Mesterházy, Á., Oláh, J., Popp, J. (2020), Losses in the grain supply chain: Causes and solutions, Sustainability, 12(6), 2342, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062342.

Michelini, G., Moraes, R.N., Cunha, R.N., Costa, J.M.H., Ometto, A.R. (2017), From linear to circular economy: PSS conducting the transition, Procedia CIRP, 64, 2-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2017.03.012.

Olah, J., Virglerova, Z., Popp, J., Kliestikova, J., Kovacs, S. (2019), The assessment of non-financial risk sources of SMEs in the V4 countries and Serbia, Sustainability, 11(17), 4806. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174806.

Pearce, D.W., Turner, R.K. (1989), Economics of natural resources and the environment, Harlow: Pearson Education.

Rymarczyk, J. (2020), Technologies, opportunities and challenges of the industrial revolution 4.0: Theoretical considerations, Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 8(1), 185-198. https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2020.080110

Scheepens, A.E., Vogtlander, J.G., Brezet, J.C. (2016), Two life cycle assessment (LCA) based methods to analyse and design complex (regional) circular economy systems. Case: Making water tourism more sustainable, Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 257-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.075.

Shpak, N., Kuzmin, O., Melnyk, O., Ruda, M., Sroka, W. (2020), Implementation of a circular economy in Ukraine: The context of European integration, Resources, 9(8), 96. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9080096.

Shpak, N., Odrekhivskyi, M., Doroshkevych, K., Sroka, W. (2019), Simulation of innovative systems under industry 4.0 conditions, Social Sciences, 8, 202. DOI: 10.3390/socsci8070202.

Sieja, M., Wach, K. (2019). The use of evolutionary algorithms for optimization in the modern entrepreneurial economy: Interdisciplinary perspective, Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 7(4), 117-130. https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2019.070407

Smol, M., Kulczycka, J., Avdiushchenko, A. (2017), Circular economy indicators in relation to eco-innovation in European regions, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 19(3), 669-678. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-016-1323-8.

Stahel, W.R. (2016), The circular economy, retrieved from: http://www.nature.com/news/the‐circular‐economy‐1.19594. (accessed 5 February 2020)

Stahel, W., Reday, G. (1976), The potential for substituting manpower for energy, Report to the Commission of the European Communities.

Ślusarczyk, B., Baryń, M., Kot, S. (2016), Tire industry products as an alternative fuel, Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 25(3), 1263-1270. DOI:10.15244/pjoes/61543

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019), World population prospects 2019: Highlights. ST/ESA/SER.A/423.

Winning, M., Calzadilla, A., Bleischwitz, R., Nechifor, V. (2017). Towards a circular economy: insights based on the development of the global ENGAGE-materials model and evidence for the iron and steel industry, International Economics and Economic Policy, 14(3), 383-407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10368-017-0385-3.