The concept of a circular economy (CE) has become popular and important issue in environmental management in recent years; however, there are not particular indicators dedicated to it in regional policy. CE approach is an industrial system that is restorative by design, and it emphasises that it is important that, rather than extracting natural resources, the materials that have already been taken can and should be recovered and reused in different ways, thereby securing natural resources from over-exploitation. In order to meet CE assumptions, modern and innovative technologies that allow for the recovery of valuable materials should be developed. This also applies to eco-innovation that connects technology development with environmental aspects. It is therefore obvious that issues of CE and eco-innovation are linked, and a uniform methodology aimed at compare the levels of moving to CE including eco-innovation solutions should be established. Because the focus in European Union (EU) has been paid on regions, measuring of CE-eco-innovations levels is especially important at the regional level. In this paper, the proposals of CE indicators, based on eco-innovation factors, which can be possible to create based on existing data set (Eurostat, Cohesion policy) are presented. It is recommend to use of five group indicators for measuring regional CE-eco-innovation. Based on EcoInnovation Scoreboard which describes innovation measurement, three of proposed indicator groups are associated directly with innovations, taking into account the principles of CE: CE-eco-innovation inputs, CE-eco-innovation activities and CE-eco-innovation outputs, and other two groups of indicators are effects of the CE-eco-innovation introduction: resource efficiency outcomes and socio-economic outcomes. This way of measuring CE-eco-innovation allows for create holistic, systematic and integrated approach for the CE concept at the regional level. Proposed indicators can be used in current transition stage for assessment of implementation regional policy and as a base for creation final CE indicators.
The current research proposes a system of possible indicators for evaluating progress towards circular economy (CE) at the regional level in European Union countries. This was accomplished through desktop research examining potential CE indicators and approaches to monitoring, worldwide or at the country level, and possibilities for adapting such approaches to European regions. The study has shown that existing tools for monitoring are inadequate for tracking the progress of CE transition at the regional level. Based on those findings, it is possible to propose principles for designing CE indicators, types of indicators, their main characteristics and sources for data collection. The study also presents a case study for tracking CE progress, applying the proposed CE indicators to the Malopolska region in southern Poland. However, comparing CE progress between different European regions may not be feasible because of the limits of data availability. Additional indicators should be identified at the regional level to increase the quality of proposed areas of CE monitoring. Nevertheless, analysing CE indexes for various regions could offer a valuable method for distinguishing regional leaders in CE development to serve as useful examples, while determining which regions need to intensify their efforts toward such a transition.
In the transition to the circular economy (CE) model in Europe, increasing public awareness is one of the major driving forces. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of public awareness and attitudes about CE in the Malopolska region of southern Poland. The data used in this study was collected by random distribution of questionnaires in the Malopolska region and interviews with 430 respondents. Malopolska was chosen for research because the region has significant economic and social potential, but features serious environmental problemsprimarily air pollution. As environmental protection has become an important aspect for regional and local policy, the CE concept has already begun to be promoted. The questionnaires distributed to residents were divided into three areas: (1) knowledge and attitudes about CE, (2) CE-related behaviour, and (3) future development of CE in the region. The results show that the CE concept was well recognized mainly by the younger generation, which is more familiar with CE-related behaviours like waste segregation and buying recycled and remanufactured goods.The findings additionally indicate that sharing and collaborative economy practices are becoming popular among residents due to the belief that such services create more economic, environmental, and social benefits for users. People's awareness of the CE concept also has a positive correlation with their educational level, such individuals believing that the CE model could, in the future, be implemented in the region. However, this requires time and additional economic and educational resources.
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