Skip to main content

Development and Review of Circular Economy Indicators: Evidence from European Union

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sustainable Business Change

Abstract

The linear model of the economy, which is currently present, implies the way of production and consumption in enormous quantities, where the environment is exploited, the constant use of natural resources and energy to obtain certain products, which after use are discarded, i.e. end up in landfills and everywhere in the environment. The circular economy is one of the possible concepts that must be considered as a potential solution and a response to the challenge of sustainability. But the transition and application of the circular economy and its principles is a long process, a complex, not at all simple and quite serious task. In order to move from a linear model of economy, to a completely new and dynamic system, such as circular economy, it is necessary to develop a series of tools, indicators, measuring instruments, which would allow better and simpler monitoring of efficiency and effects of circular economy. This chapter will provide an overview of circular economy indicators at different levels, with a focus on the review of indicators as well as the evaluation system developed by the European Union, which would help decision-makers, both nationally and locally and at the enterprise level.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akerman, E. (2016). Development of circular economy core indicators for natural resources: Analysis of existing sustainability indicators as a baseline for developing circular economy indicators.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banaitė, D. (2016). Towards circular economy: Analysis of indicators in the context of sustainable development. Social Transformation in Contemporary Society, 4(9), 142–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beratan, K. K., Kabala, S. J., Loveless, S. M., Martin, P. J., & Spyke, N. P. (2004). Sustainability indicators as a communicative tool: Building bridges in Pennsylvania. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 94(1–3), 179–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biggs, D., Biggs, R. O., Dakos, V., Scholes, R., & Schoon, M. (2011). Are we entering an era of concatenated global crises? Ecological Society, 16(2), 27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borojević, T., Maletič, M., Petrović, N., Radaković, J. A., Senegačnik, M., & Maletič, D. (2017). Youth attitudes towards goals of a new sustainable development agenda. Problemy Ekorozwoju/Problems of Sustainable Development journal, 12(2), 161–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cayzer, S., Griffiths, P., & Beghetto, V. (2017). Design of indicators for measuring product performance in the circular economy. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 10(4–5), 289–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Design, G. (2015). Circularity indicators: An approach to measuring circularity.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Academies Science Advisory Council – EASAC. (2015). Circular economy: A commentary from the perspectives of the 1047 natural and social sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission – EC. (2011). Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe. European Comission. (COM/2011/571). Retrieved at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/com/com_com(2011)0571_/com_com(2011)0571_en.pdf

  • European Commission – EC. (2014a). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe. Retrieved at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/circular-economy-communication.pdf

  • European Commission – EC. (2014b). Green action plan for SMEs Enabling SMEs to turn environmental challenges into business opportunities. European Commission. (COM/2014/0440).

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission – EC. (2014c). General Union environment action programme to 2020. Retrieved at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/action-programme/

  • European Commission – EC. (2015a). Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the circular economy. COM (2015) 614 Final. Retrieved at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52015DC0614

  • European Commission – EC. (2015b). Natural resources. Retrieved at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/indicators/natural-resources

  • European Commission – EC. (2015c). Sustainable development indicators. Retrieved at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/indicators

  • European Commission – EC. (2018a). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on a monitoring framework for the circular economy. SWD (2018) 17 final. January 16, 2018. Retrieved at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2018%3A29%3AFIN

  • European Commission – EC. (2018b). Commission Staff Working Document measuring progress towards circular economy in the EU – Key indicators for a monitoring framework. SWD (2018) 17 final. January 16, 2018. Retrieved at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/monitoring-framework_staff-working-document.pdf

  • European Environment Agency – EEA. (2016). Circular economy in Europe – Developing the knowledge base. EEA Report No 1065 2/2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallaud, D., & Laperche, B. (2016). Circular economy, industrial ecology and short supply chain. Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gallopin, G. C. (1996). Environmental and sustainability indicators and the concept of situational indicators. A systems approach. Environmental Modeling & Assessment, 1(3), 101–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Bernabeu, A., Hilario-Caballero, A., Pla-Santamaria, D., & Salas-Molina, F. (2020). A process oriented MCDM approach to construct a circular economy composite index. Sustainability, 12(2), 618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geng, Y., Fu, J., Sarkis, J., & Xue, B. (2012). Towards a national circular economy indicator system in China: An evaluation and critical analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 23(1), 216–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Government Offices of Sweden. (2016). Smart industry: A strategy for new industrialization for Sweden. Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation. Retrieved at: http://www.government.se/498615/contentassets/3be3b6421c034b038dae4a7ad75f2f54/nist_statsformat_160420_eng_webb.pdf

  • Heshmati, A. (2015). A review of the circular economy and its implementation. IZA Discussion Papers, No. 9611. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn. Retrieved at: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/130297/1/dp9611.pdf

  • Horizon. (2013). Horizon 2020 work programme for 2014–2015; Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials. European Commission. Retrieved at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/main/h2020-wp1415-climate_en.pdf

  • Houshfar, E., Skreiberg, Ø., Todorović, D., Skreiberg, A., Løvås, T., Jovović, A., & Sørum, L. (2012). NOx emission reduction by staged combustion in grate combustion of biomass fuels and fuel mixtures. Fuel, 98, 29–40.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hugé, J., Block, T., Waas, T., Wright, T., & Dahdouh-Gueba, F. (2016). How to walk the talk? Developing actions for sustainability in academic research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 137, 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iannuzzi, A. (2017). Greener products: The making and marketing of sustainable brands. CRC Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., & Hekkert, M. (2017). Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 127, 221–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyriakopoulos, G. L., Kapsalis, V. C., Aravossis, K. G., Zamparas, M., & Mitsikas, A. (2019). Evaluating circular economy under a multi-parametric approach: A technological review. Sustainability, 11(21), 6139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lévy, J. C. (2009). Économie circulaire: l'urgence écologique: monde en transe. Chine en transit. Presses de l'École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, S. (2012). The research on quantitative evaluation of circular economy based on waste input-output analysis. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 12, 65–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lilja, R. K. (2015). Policy instruments for promoting material efficiency: Case of Finland. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 17(7), 2029–2040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linder, M., Sarasini, S., & van Loon, P. (2017). A metric for quantifying product-level circularity. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 21(3), 545–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur, E., Foundation, and Granta Design. (2015a). Circularity indicators – An approach to measure circularity. Methodology. Retrieved at: http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/insight/CircularityIndicators_Methodology_May2015.pdf.

  • MacArthur, E., Foundation, and Granta Design. (2015b). Project overview: An approach to measuring circularity. Retrieved at: http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/insight/CircularityIndicators_Project-Overview_May2015.pdf

  • Magnier, C. (2017). 10 key indicators for monitoring the circular economy. March 2017. The Monitoring and Statistics Directorate (SOeS). Retrieved at: http://www.epsilon.insee.fr/jspui/bitstream/1/86506/1/22978_2017_ENG.pdf

  • Mihajlov, A., Mladenović, A., & Jovanović, A. (2019). Circular economy in Serbia: The process started. Environmental Ambassadors for Sustainable Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milanović, T., Petrović, N., & Ćirović, M. (2019). “Upravljanje otpadom i cirkularna ekonomija”, Zbornik radova XII skup privrednika i naučnika SPIN’19 “Lin transformacija i digitalizacija privrede Srbije”. Fakultet organizacionih nauka, Centar za operacioni menadžment, Beograd, 2019, pp. 328–334. Fakultet organizacionih nauka. [In Serbian].

    Google Scholar 

  • Milanović, T., Popović, V. M., Vučković, S., Rakaščan, N., Popović, S., & Petković, Z. (2020b). Analysis of soybean production and biogas yield to improve eco-marketing and circular economy. Economics of Agriculture, 67(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.5937/ekoPolj2001141M

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milanović, Т., Jovović, A., Petrović, N., & Martić, M. (2020a). Pregled indikatora cirkularne ekonomije razvijenih zemalja. Zbornik radova SYM-OP-IS 2020 XLVII Simozijum o operacionim istraživanjima, 20–23.09.2020, Beograd (online). [In Serbian].

    Google Scholar 

  • Milanović, Т., Savić, G., Martić, M., Milanović, M., & Petrović, N. (2022). Development of the waste management composite index using DEA method as circular economy indicator: The case of European Union countries. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 31(1), 771–784. https://doi.org/10.15244/pjoes/139896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitrović, Đ., & Veselinov, M. (2018). Measuring countries competitiveness in circular economy-composite index approach. In J. Kočović, J. Selimović, B. Boričić, V. Kašćelan, & V. Rajić (Eds.), Quantitative models in economics. University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics Publishing Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moraga, G., Huysveld, S., Mathieux, F., Blengini, G. A., Alaerts, L., Van Acker, K., et al. (2019). Circular economy indicators: What do they measure? Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 146, 452–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, A., Skene, K., & Haynes, K. (2017). The circular economy: An interdisciplinary exploration of the concept and application in a global context. Journal of Business Ethics, 140(3), 369–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National People’s Congress. (2008). People’s Republic of China circular economy promotion law. Standing Committee of the Fourth Session of the Elevent National People’s Congress 29 August 2008, Beijing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohliger, T. (2015). Environment policy: General principles and basic framework. European Parliament.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrovic, N., Savic, G., Andrijasevic, D., Stanojevic, M., Cirovic, M., Slovic, D., & Radakovic, J. A. (2016). Evaluating eco-efficiency of beverage packaging materials: A data envelopment analysis approach. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 25(8), 2958–2963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potting, J., Hekkert, M. P., Worrell, E., & Hanemaaijer, A. (2017). Circular economy: Measuring innovation in the product chain. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Retrieved at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/MP_Hekkert/publication/319314335_Circular_Economy_Measuring_innovation_in_the_product_chain/links/5a83e8baaca272d6501efa7b/Circular-Economy-Measuring-innovation-in-the-product-chain.pdf

  • Radaković, J. A., Petrović, N., Milenković, N., Stanojević, K., & Đoković, A. (2017). The improvement of students' higher environmental and climate change knowledge: A case study. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 26(6), 2711–2719. https://doi.org/10.15244/pjoes/69645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ragossnig, A. M., & Jovovic, A. (2016). Waste management life cycle: Sensitisation–implementation/integration–transition–optimisation. Waste Management & Research, 34(9), 813–815.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saidani, M., Yannou, B., Leroy, Y., Cluzel, F., & Kendall, A. (2019). A taxonomy of circular economy indicators. Journal of Cleaner Production, 207, 542–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Ortiz, J., Rodríguez-Cornejo, V., Río-Sánchez, D., & García-Valderrama, T. (2020). Indicators to measure efficiency in circular economies. Sustainability, 12(11), 4483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smol, M., Kulczycka, J., & Avdiushchenko, A. (2017). Circular economy indicators in relation to eco-innovation in European regions. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 19(3), 669–678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, J. C. (2006). Environment and education: A view of a changing scene. Reprinted from Environmental Education on Research (2005) 1(1), 3–20. Environmental Education Research, 12(3–4), 247–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staniškis, J. K. (2012). Sustainable consumption and production: How to make it possible. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 14(6), 1015–1022.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su, B., Heshmati, A., Geng, Y., & Yu, X. (2013). A review of the circular economy in China: Moving from rhetoric to implementation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 42, 215–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vasileios Rizos, V. R., Katja Tuokko, K. T., & Arno Behrens, A. B. (2017). The circular economy: A review of definitions, processes and impacts. CEPS Research Report No 2017/8, April 2017. Retrieved at: http://aei.pitt.edu/85892/1/RR2017-08_CircularEconomy_0.pdf

  • Vercalsteren, A., Christis, M., & Van Hoof, V. (2018). Short-term assignment indicators for a circular economy. SUMA Circular Economy Policy Research Centre. Retrieved at: https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/sites/default/files/summa_-_indicators_for_a_circular_economy.pdf

  • Vukadinović, B., Popović, I., Dunjić, B., Jovović, A., Vlajić, M., Stanković, D., et al. (2016). Correlation between eco-efficiency measures and resource and impact decoupling for thermal power plants in Serbia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 138, 264–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization – WHO. (2018). Circular economy and health: Opportunities and risks. Retrieved at: https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/374917/Circular-Economy_EN_WHO_web_august-2018.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tijana Milanović .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Milanović, T., Jovović, A., Petrović, N. (2023). Development and Review of Circular Economy Indicators: Evidence from European Union. In: Obradović, V. (eds) Sustainable Business Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23543-6_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics