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Towards Circular Economy—A Comparative Analysis of the Countries of the European Union

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  • Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka

    (Institute of Management, University of Szczecin, 70-453 Szczecin, Poland)

Abstract

There are many studies which implement and assess existing measurement manners and document the progress of entities towards the circular economy (CE) at various levels, or present or propose new possibilities of measurement. The majority of them refer to the micro level. The aim of this paper is to conduct a multidimensional comparative analysis of the implementation of circular economy by EU countries. After an in-depth critical analysis of the literature, CE indicators which were proposed by the European Commission were adopted as a basis. Owing to the research population-Member States of the European Union (EU-28), focusing on the said indicators was declared reasonable in all aspects. The classification of EU countries according to the level of their advancement in the concept of CE was adopted as a main research task. In order to do so, a relevant index of development of circular economy was created (IDCE). This will allow us, inter alia, to trace changes in the spatial differentiation of advancement of the EU countries in implementing CE over the years, to identify CE implementation leaders as well as countries particularly delayed in this regard. The comparative analysis was conducted by means of statistical methods. On the basis of the analyses, it was concluded that among all EU countries, those of the old EU are the most advanced in terms of CE. The analysis confirmed significant rising trends for IDCE only in the case of Belgium and The Netherlands.

Suggested Citation

  • Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka, 2021. "Towards Circular Economy—A Comparative Analysis of the Countries of the European Union," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:10:y:2021:i:5:p:49-:d:553893
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    4. Zain Anwar Ali & Mahreen Zain & M. Salman Pathan & Peter Mooney, 2024. "Contributions of artificial intelligence for circular economy transition leading toward sustainability: an explorative study in agriculture and food industries of Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 19131-19175, August.

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