Abstract
Historically, the development of the circular economy (CE) proceeds from the CE 1.0 stage, characterized by attention to waste management and recycling, to the CE 2.0 stage with an emphasis on resource efficiency and eco-efficiency, to the current CE 3.0 stage, in which the key factor to a company’s success is the business model. However, not all countries of the world simultaneously began transforming the national economy from a linear model to a circular one; many are still at the CE 1.0 and CE 2.0 stages, and do not have a developed system of institutions supporting the circular economy. In Russia, the concept of a circular economy has not yet received recognition in society and government; the stage of its development can be defined as CE 2.0. This study compares the barriers and drivers of CE development in the EU countries, a group of countries with a well-developed institutional support system, and in Russia, a country that does not have such a system. The study reveals that the most significant difference between countries with mature systems of institutional support and Russia lies in the regulatory sphere and in information and awareness about new available technologies and ways to increase resource efficiency, commercial attractiveness, and organizational feasibility. Changes in the first sphere are impossible without the participation of the national authorities; however, changes in the information sphere are feasible even without the government’s support. The actors in such changes can be international companies with access to resource-efficient new technologies and processes for organizing business.
Highlights
The circular economy (CE) is gaining increasing support in the business community and at the level of national authorities around the world as a model of economic growth that allows society to overcome resource constraints and stop the growth of the negative impact of economic activities on the environment [1,2,3].Business plays a critical role in the development of a circular economy
This study reports that circular practices contribute to greater resource efficiency, help to gain strategic advantages by turning products which are at the end of one of their life cycles into resources, and to become less vulnerable to virgin material price shocks
To compare the CE barriers and drivers in the EU with those in Russia, we interviewed business representatives using a questionnaire compiled within the framework of the project Flash Eurobarometer 456 “SMEs, resource efficiency and green markets” [65]
Summary
The circular economy (CE) is gaining increasing support in the business community and at the level of national authorities around the world as a model of economic growth that allows society to overcome resource constraints and stop the growth of the negative impact of economic activities on the environment [1,2,3].Business plays a critical role in the development of a circular economy. All modern business tools were formed under the influence of a linear model of the economy and boil down to achieving two main goals reducing production costs and increasing sales. These tools are not designed for a circular economy [4,12]. Institutional support is urgently needed to launch changes in businesses and society [13,14] In this context the governments of developed countries that have adopted CE strategies at the national level are introducing various measures to support enterprises striving to implement circular models and, to discourage
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