Review of challenges to transition towards circular economy

The growing volume of waste worldwide is driving us to search for solutions to recycle waste and reduce material consumption. It is necessary to create models that stop the deterioration of the environmental condition and offer a transition to a more efficient economic system where resources are less intensively used. The EU needs to ensure the transition to a sustainable circular economy (CE), which provides for waste recycling and preserves the value of natural resources, raw materials, and goods produced in the market for as long as possible. A more efficient economic system would contribute significantly to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development (SD) Agenda targeted until 2030. This topic has still to be addressed in the literature, so we aim to reduce the research gaps in the publications with this article. The authors selected and analysed the variables that mainly influenced waste recycling, which is part of CE processes. The paper assessed the relationship between resource productivity and waste recycling variables; a Vector Error Correction Model was used. The results allowed us to provide novel insights concerning CE challenges.