Abstract
This chapter presents dominant circular business models across the plastic industry, as well as challenges and new opportunities in the transition towards a circular economy. The chapter starts with an industry-specific literature review to identify global trends, key barriers, and opportunities for circular transformation in the plastic industry. The further focus is on the statistical circular performance of the Lithuanian plastic industry in the context of small open economies. We then present the results of our original survey of Lithuanian plastic manufacturers regarding their priorities towards the circular economy, as well as drivers and barriers. Finally, the chapter ends with a summary of best practices of plastic circular business models.
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Notes
- 1.
Generation of plastic packaging waste in the European Union (EU-27) from 2005 to 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/881996/plastic-packaging-waste-generated-eu/.
- 2.
The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics. https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics
- 3.
REACH Legislation. https://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach/legislation.
- 4.
Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (RoHS) https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-standards/restriction-use-certain-hazardous-substances-rohs_en.
- 5.
This legislation was introduced in June 2019. More information: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/plastics/single-use-plastics/eu-restrictions-certain-single-use-plastics_en.
- 6.
Khan et al. (2020) surveyed 637 organizations from different industries, investigating behaviours and attitudes towards industrial plastic waste. Only 14% of respondents reported that their organizations are successfully reusing plastic waste, and 23% are reducing it.
- 7.
Officially (according to the NACE classification) the industry is called Rubber and Plastics, but in the book we refer to it collectively as the plastic industry.
- 8.
Digital transformation of the plastic products factory. https://www.competition.org.za/ccred-blog-digital-industrial-policy/2020/4/21/digital-transformation-of-the-plastic-products-factory.
- 9.
PPMI (2021). “Report on the Lithuanian Industrial Landscape and its Potential to Integrate into European Value Chains”.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
Užstato Sistemos Administratorius https://grazintiverta.lt/en/about/74.
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Dagilienė, L., Bruneckienė, J., Varaniūtė, V., Banionienė, J. (2023). Circular Transformation of the Plastic Industry. In: Circular Business Models in the Manufacturing Industry. Studies in Energy, Resource and Environmental Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28809-8_7
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