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Economic Indicators in Water and Wastewater Sector Contributing to a Circular Economy (CE)

Author

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  • Marzena Smol

    (Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7A Str., 31-261 Cracow, Poland)

  • Renata Koneczna

    (Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7A Str., 31-261 Cracow, Poland
    ERBEKA Foundation, Kazimierza Morawskiego 5/222C Str., 30-102 Cracow, Poland)

Abstract

Protection and sustainable management of water was indicated as one of the strategic tasks in the process of transformation towards a circular economy (CE) in the European Union (EU), therefore, the water and wastewater sector plays an important role in this process. At the same time, the European Commission (EC) strongly underlined the importance of the possibility to assess the transformation process toward the CE, and developed a set of CE indicators that are available on the Eurostat website. However, these indicators have limited ability to assess the transformation progress in the water and wastewater sector. This paper presents a set of indicators for assessing the economic progress of transformation towards the CE in this sector. The proposed economic CE indicators were grouped into the following actions of the CE model in the water and wastewater sector: reduction, reclamation (removal), reuse, recycling, recovery and landfilling. The selection of specific indicators was based on a systematic review of the literature presenting economic indicators developed by international organisations and researchers (covering different thematic areas, scopes and potential applications). The selected economic CE indicators were assigned to three groups of the cash flow: income (revenues, expenses), costs, and investment financing. The proposed CE indicators can be used by water supply and sewage companies (i.e., supplying water to the public and wastewater treatment plants, and companies that use water in their production processes) to assess the level of the transformation toward the CE at a microeconomic level. An important aspect of future application and usage of the proposed set of CE economic indicators is the collection and processing of data needed for their reporting. The proposed set of CE economic indicators refers to information that are reported by the companies to prove its revenues, costs and investment outlays, and are collected by companies anyway. The proposed set of economic CE indicators is flexible, allowing the adaptation of indicators and areas of interest to maintain effectiveness throughout the transition period from linear to the CE model.

Suggested Citation

  • Marzena Smol & Renata Koneczna, 2021. "Economic Indicators in Water and Wastewater Sector Contributing to a Circular Economy (CE)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:10:y:2021:i:12:p:129-:d:703979
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marzena Smol & Joanna Duda & Agnieszka Czaplicka-Kotas & Dominika Szołdrowska, 2020. "Transformation towards Circular Economy (CE) in Municipal Waste Management System: Model Solutions for Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Rosenau-Tornow, Dirk & Buchholz, Peter & Riemann, Axel & Wagner, Markus, 2009. "Assessing the long-term supply risks for mineral raw materials--a combined evaluation of past and future trends," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 161-175, December.
    3. Erik Pauer & Bernhard Wohner & Victoria Heinrich & Manfred Tacker, 2019. "Assessing the Environmental Sustainability of Food Packaging: An Extended Life Cycle Assessment including Packaging-Related Food Losses and Waste and Circularity Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Edgar Towa & Vanessa Zeller & Wouter M. J. Achten, 2021. "Assessing the circularity of regions: Stakes of trade of waste for treatment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 834-847, August.
    5. Marzena Smol & Paulina Marcinek & Joanna Duda & Dominika Szołdrowska, 2020. "Importance of Sustainable Mineral Resource Management in Implementing the Circular Economy (CE) Model and the European Green Deal Strategy," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Di Maio, Francesco & Rem, Peter Carlo & Baldé, Kees & Polder, Michael, 2017. "Measuring resource efficiency and circular economy: A market value approach," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 163-171.
    7. Marzena Smol, 2020. "Inventory of Wastes Generated in Polish Sewage Sludge Incineration Plants and Their Possible Circular Management Directions," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-24, July.
    8. Edgar Battand Towa Kouokam & Vanessa Zeller & Wouter Achten, 2021. "Assessing the circularity of regions: Stakes of trade of waste for treatment," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/332186, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. World Bank, 2017. "The Little Green Data Book 2017," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 27466.
    10. Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes & Ailin Salomé Valls & Simon Peter Nadeem & Anthony Anosike & Vikas Kumar, 2019. "A circularity measurement toolkit for manufacturing SMEs," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(23), pages 7319-7343, December.
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