Models for Analyzing the Dependencies between Indicators for a Circular Economy in the European Union

• Published in: Sustainability 2018-06, Vol.10 (7), p.2141
• Main Authors: Tantau, Adrian, Maassen, Maria, Fratila, Laurentiu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business models; Circular economy; Consumption; Design; Economic conditions; Economics; Efficiency; Environmental factors; Environmental impact; Environmental tax; Indicators; Municipal wastes; Raw materials; Recyclable materials; Recycling; Regression analysis; Statistical analysis; Sustainability; Taxation
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su10072141

The circular economy has become one of the main strategic issues on a global scale in the striving towards achieving sustainable economic systems. The traditional model of production, consumption and disposal is being transformed into a recycling and waste integration process from the beginning of the production cycle of a product until its full use by the consumers. While measuring the progress towards a circular economy can be a challenging factor, several indicators can be used to evaluate developments in this direction. That is why recycling in general, as well as recycling of municipal waste, have become a main strategic issue in the process towards implementation of circular economy principles. The main objective of the paper is to elaborate a panel regression model for determining the dependency between main indicators, that are indicating progress of the circular economy in Europe, such as the recycling rate of municipal waste, circular material use rate, R&D expenditure by all sectors, trade in recyclable raw materials and environmental tax revenues, resource productivity and domestic material consumption. Furthermore, the fixed and random effects regression models estimations are included and tested through the Durbin–Hausman–Wu statistic. The research in this study is based on the analysis of regressions in the circular economy fields in the European Union and intends to contribute to the research in the field, being an emerging scientific topic due to changing technological, economic and environmental factors.