Advancement of Circular Economy: The European Perspective

Introduction

The circular economy has become a global trend that is unstoppable. Over the last decade, the concept of the circular economy has become one of the leading policy issues European Commission. As a result, EU Member States are following it. During this period, the circular economy has become well known to the general public, and in policy terms the concept has been broadened from an initial focus on aspects of waste management to a more comprehensive concept. It should be emphasized that major efforts are still needed to increase the scale of the measures introduced, both at EU and global level, in order to fully close the linear loops and exploit the competitive advantages that the circular economy offers to EU companies (EC, 2020a).

The concept of circular economy is an economic concept that can lead to solving current environmental and socio-economic problems and creating a more sustainable society (Witjes & Lozano, 2016). In recent years, it is recognized as a tool to achieve sustainable development. The circular economy promotes the responsible and cyclical use of resources that can contribute to sustainable development. The circular economy can be seen as an umbrella concept (Blomsma & Brennan, 2017; Homrich et al., 2018) that encompasses various content concepts, from reducing material inputs to minimizing waste generation (EASAC, 2016; EEA, 2016), with the aim of achieving economic growth independent of natural resource use (Cullen, 2017; EASAC, 2016; Pauliuk, 2018; Moraga et al., 2019). The concept of circular economy can be divided into several stages of development:

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  Circular Economy 1.0 (1970-1990): focus on waste management.

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  Circular Economy 2.0 (1990-2010): development of strategies linking inputs and outputs to achieve ecological efficiency.

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  Circular Economy 3.0 (2010-2020): increasing the retention of product values in an era of resource scarcity.

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  Circular Economy 4.0 (2020 onwards): Integrating sub-concepts into an overall system.

In the first stage of development of the circular economy, the focus was primarily on waste management. In the second stage, the concept was expanded to include the development of strategies that incorporate and link inputs and outputs. The third stage focuses on preserving product values for as long as possible due to resource depletion. In our study, we add a fourth stage, Circular Economy 4.0, which needs to integrate all partial implementation concepts, approaches and models and involve all stakeholders in a single comprehensive approach to maximize the effects of circular economy. Currently, two main directions of implementation can be distinguished in the circular economy field: (1) a systemic implementation across the whole economy, e.g., at local, regional, national and transnational levels, and (2) an implementation focusing on a selected group of sectors, products, materials and substances.

The state of the circular economy at the global level report notes that the world is 8.6% circular (Circle Economy, 2019). Considering the efforts policymakers have been making for decades to build a circular economy not only locally but also globally, the results are quite worrying and require all stakeholders to commit to adopting circular approaches as much as possible.

The chapter focuses mainly on the last five-year period. During this period, the European Commission has focused its policies on putting the circular economy into practice and measuring the impact of the implementation of various policies in this context. The aim of the chapter is therefore to provide an overview of the most current aspects of dealing with the circular economy at EU level. The key questions we try to answer in this chapter are: (1) what is the implementation of the circular economy at EU level; (2) how is the adoption of circular practices perceived by companies; and (3) how can the implementation of the circular economy in companies be promoted in society.