Assessment of the Effectiveness of the European Union Countries Transition to a Circular Economy: Data Envelopment Analysis

Abstract

In the current era of overconsumption, transition to circular economy is a relevant problem for every country in the world. The main idea behind this economic approach is to break the link between rising wealth and overexploitation of primary natural resources. The article assessed the current and future state of the circular economy’s development in 27 countries of the European Union. The assessment was carried out using Data Envelopment Analysis based on data for 2019 of selected input and output parameters described by the circular economy. Generation of municipal waste per capita, Water exploitation index, Final energy consumption and Social Progress Index were used as input parameters. Circular material use rate and municipal waste recycling rate were output parameters. All data was collected from official reliable sources such as Eurostat, and the Social Progress Imperative website. The study results showed that as of 2019, 40,74% of European countries have high efficiency in the advancement of circular economy, 40,74% - sufficient, 11,11% - medium and 7.41% - low efficiency. However, the analysis showed very good prospects for the future progress of the circular economy in these countries, since the overall efficiency results in the CCR model range from 0.899 to 1 for all countries in the European Union. With the implementation of the New Circular Economy Action Plan, which was adopted in 2020 by the European Commission, the EU countries have the opportunity to fully turn to the circular economy and ensure the healthy, sustainable development of countries.

Keywords

• circular economy
• european union
• data envelopment analysis
• municipal waste
• recycling
• consumption
• efficiency