Development of Circular Economy: Opportunities and Impediments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32015/JIBM/2020-12-1-2Keywords:
circular economy, sustainable development, energy efficiency, waste management, eco-fiscal policy, ecological transformationAbstract
The objective of this paper is to outline the potential and outlooks of development of circular economy in Bulgaria, as well as demonstrate the need for adequate measures on part of public authorities to encourage this change. The research is based on a primary survey of Bulgarian employers’ attitudes towards pursuing a corporate policy relating to the principles of sustainable development, which was conducted among 400 enterprises. The analysis reveals untapped potential not only with regard to a more efficient use of resources, in both the private and public sectors, but also in terms of underestimating the significance of the issue. The firms could significantly reduce their costs, improve their compatibility and their export potential if they apply new business models and new innovative technologies, which are both resource-efficient and eco-friendly. The research and analytical methods used for the development of the paper involve graphical and table presentation of statistical and empirical data and survey of available legal and analytical research on the topic. The conclusions reached reveal a number of obstacles slowing down the transition to a real circular economy model. That would require speeding up the reform in the eco-fiscal and innovative government policies. The paper’s added value lies not only in the analytical examination of the issues, but above all in deriving recommendations for future actions.
References
Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (2019). ACR+ Webinar: Cross-regional synergies in the transition to circular economy. Available at http://www.acrplus.org/en/ [Accessed: 21. 08. 2018].
Bansal, P., and Roth, K. (2000). Why Companies Go Green: A Model of Ecological Responsiveness, Academy of Management Journal, 43(4), 717-736.
Boiral, O., and Croteau, G. (2001). Développement durable et synergie des sous-produits: quelques exemples au Québec. Nouvelles tendances en management, 3(2), A1-A2.
Cambridge Econometrics (2014). Modelling the Economic and Environmental Impacts of Change in Raw Material Consumption: Technical report 2014-2478. Brussels: Cambridge Econometrics.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2012). Towards the Circular Economy. London: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2014). Towards the Circular Economy: Business Rationale for an Accelerated transition. London: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015), Growth within: A Circular Economy Vision for a Competitive Europe. London: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015a), Circular economy overview. Available at: http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy [25.6.2019].
European Commission (2011). Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe: COM/2011/0571 final. Brussells: European Commission. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0571&from=EN [25.6.2019].
European Commission (2012). Ecodesign Your Future: How Ecodesign Can Help the Environment by Making Products Smarter. Brussels: DG Enterprise & Industry and DG Energy.
European Commission (2013). The 7th EU Environmental Action Programme to 2020: ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32013D1386&from=EN @25.6.2019].
European Commission (2014). Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe. European Commission. Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52014DC0398&from=EL [25.6.2019].
European Commission (2015). Closing the Loop: An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy COM/2015/0614 final. Brussels: European Commission. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614&from=EN [25.6.2019].
Fricker, A. (2003). Waste Reduction in Focus. Future, 35(5), pp. 509-519.
Geldron, A. (2013). Economie circulaire: notions. Angers: ADEME.
Geng, Y., and Doberstein, B. (2008). Developing the circular economy in China: Challenges and opportunities for achieving “leapfrog development” International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 15(3), pp. 231-239.
IDDRI (n.d.). L'Iddri, think tank qui facilite la transition vers le développement durable. Availabčle at: https://www.iddri.org/fr/iddri-en-bref [25.6.2019].
Ivanova, V. (2013). Opportunities for the Green Economy in Bulgaria. Economic Alternatives, 4, pp. 35-45.
Ivanova, V., and Sterew, N. (2019) From Sustainability to a Model of Circular Economy: The Example of Bulgaria. Proceedings of INTCESS 2019- 6th International Conference on Education and Social Sciences, 4-6 February 2019. Dubai: OCERINT, pp. 757-766.
Lascoumes P., Bonnaud L., Le Bourhis J.-P., and Martinais E. (2014). Le développement durable :une nouvelle affaire d’Etat. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Lisney, R., Riley, K., and Banks, C. (2004). From Waste to Resource Management : Part 2. Management Services, 48(1), pp. 8-14.
Lockie D, Sonnenfeld D., and Fischer F. (Eds.) (2013). Handbook of Environmental Sociology. London: Routledge.
Matete, N., and Trois, C. (2008). Towards zero waste in emerging countries: A South African experience. Waste Managment, 28, pp. 1480-1492
McDonough, W., and Braungard, M. (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things. New York: North Point Press.
Naustdalslid, J. (2014). Circular economy in China: The environmental dimension of the harmonious society. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 21(4), pp. 303-313. Doi: 10.1080/13504509.2014.914599.
Rotillon, G. (2010). Economie des ressources naturelles. Paris: La Decouverte, Reperes.
Rudolf F. (2013). De la modernisation écologique à la résilience: un réformisme de plus? VertigO - la revue électronique en sciences de l'environnement 13(3) [online]. Available at http://vertigo.revues.org/14558 [11. 08. 2018]
UNEP (2011). Decoupling Natural Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth: A Report of the Working Group on Decoupling to the International Resource Panel. Paris: United Nations Environment Programme.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The authors retain rights under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-SA 4.0. Authors assign copyright or license the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to MIP=JIBM. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and of course MIP=JIBM, to the widest possible readership in electronic format. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.
