Reverse Logistics of Packaging Waste under the Conditions of a Sustainable Circular Economy at the Level of the European Union States

Abstract

The efficient use of natural resources and the quality of the environment are the main priorities of sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the role of reverse logistics in the context of sustainable development, starting from the premise that it combines environmental and economic objectives and aims to minimize the wastage of resources through the reuse of products and packaging. In the current context, the circular economy must be approached by considering the methods of waste collection and reuse, with reverse logistics playing an essential role in creating environmental, economic, and social benefits. The growing population obviously determines the increase in the consumption of resources, which inevitably leads to the increasing generation of packaging and packaging waste. This study aimed to highlight the evolution of recycling rates at the level of the EU member states, starting from the stability objectives of the European Commission for the years 2025–2030. Starting from the Eurostat database, for the 27 member states of the European Union, regarding the recovery rate, recycle rate, and waste generation kg_per_capita related to the period of 2009–2020, we extrapolated the trends of the recycling rate of packaging for the period of 2021–2030 with the help of the Prophet model. Using the Prophet forecasting program, we identified states from the European Union that will meet the stability targets set by the European Commission for the years 2025 to 2030, considering the need to develop a circular economy.